Updates

On 18 December 2018, China published a policy paper on possible measures to enhance the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and promote greater development of China-EU relations. The paper addresses issues related to the cooperation in political, security and defense fields that include the “good use of the China-EU Cyber Taskforce, jointly advocate a community with a shared future in cyberspace, promote norms for responsible State behavior in cyberspace under the UN framework, and advance the reform of the global internet governance system for a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyberspace.” Additionally, the paper tackles the cooperation in scientific research, innovation, emerging industries, and sustainable development through "Digital China" and the EU Digital Single Market where exchanges and cooperation between China and the EU are further required. It also refers to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) hoping that its implementation will not affect normal business interactions between the two sides. According to the paper, cooperation on data protection between China and the EU will continue to protect personal information and the legitimate rights of citizens.

The Africa eCommerce Week: Empowering African Economies in the Digital Era was organised from 10 - 14 December 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the African Union, and the European Union, and hosted by the Government of Kenya. The outcome of the event is the Nairobi Manifesto on the Digital Economy and Inclusive Development in Africa which pinpoints a number of policy recommendations required for digital economy to bring inclusive and sustainable development to Africa and eschew wider inequalities and divides. The Manifesto further underlines how the engagement of all segments of society is significant for e-commerce to make a real and sustained contribution to development. To this aim, cross-cutting policy actions and new public - private partnerships are necessary alongside quality research and statistics to inform such policy actions.

The European Commission launched an annual scoreboard to monitor women's participation in the digital economy. The Women in Digital (WiD) Scoreboard is a tool to measure and assess the participation of women in the digital economy through four types of analysis: 1) evaluating the general characterisation of the performance of individual Member States, 2) pinpointing areas for improvement by analysing individual indicators, 3) assessing progress over time, 4) pointing out the need for improve relevant policy areas. The scorecard revealed a gender gap in all 13 indicators at EU level which is largely manifested in the area of ICT specialist skills and employment; 76 % for ICT specialists and 47 % for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics graduates. Nonetheless, the difference is reduced within the younger age group (16 to 24) between women and men vis-à-vis digital participation; 55% of women compared to 60% of men. This gap is even reversed in certain countries where women overperform men in digital participation.

G20 leaders recognised that transformative technologies are expected to bring new and better jobs. Policy options for the future of work will draw on ‘harness technology to strengthen growth and productivity’; ‘support people during transitions and address distributional challenges’ and ‘secure tax systems’. The leaders remained committed to build an inclusive, fair and sustainable future of work by reskilling workers and recognising the importance of social dialogue in the area, including work delivered through digital platforms, aiming at labour formalisation and making social protection systems strong and portable. Access to education to enhance digital skills was underlined as a strategic policy area for the development of more inclusive, prosperous, and peaceful societies. To expand the benefits of digitalization, G20 nations will promote measures to boost micro, small and medium enterprises, bridge the divide and further digital inclusion. They will also improve digital government, digital infrastructure and measurement of the digital economy.

The United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), replacing the NAFTA, is expected to be signed by the end of November 2019. The agreement provides robust intermediary liability protections to websites and online platforms. The article 19.17.2 of the agreement reflects the American Communication Decency Act at a large extent, providing that ‘no Party shall adopt or maintain measures that threat a supplier or user of an interactive computer service as an information content provider in determining liability for harms related to information stored, processed, transmitted, distributed, or made available by the service, except to the extent the supplier or user has, in whole or in part, created, or developed the information’. This provision, depending on how it will be integrated into Canadian law by the parliament, can impact the Canadian system of intermediary liabilities. Contrary to the US, Canadian law holds websites liable for third-party content, if they know that the content is illegal. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Internet service providers (ISPs) can become liable when they do not take action once given notice of an infringement, in two landmark cases, SOCAN v. Canadian Association of Internet Providers and Crookes v. Newton.

The 2018 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG) took place from 9-10 October in Bali, Indonesia. Ministers and other high-level officials debated the future of fiscal and monetary policy, development, and the need for greater collaboration to boost confidence in international trade. In the opening plenary, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde called for countries to consider a ‘new multilateralism’, leading to a ‘more inclusive, people-centred, and results-oriented’ international system that would facilitate cooperation. She highlighted the importance of making the trade system fit for tackling current challenges, such as ‘inequality, technology, and sustainability’. Several IMF and WBG related bodies held their meetings around the same dates. A communiqué released after the 38th Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) on 13 October, noted that while ‘the global expansion remains strong’, projections suggest that ‘the recovery is increasingly uneven’. It predicted that ‘policy uncertainty, historically high debt levels, rising financial vulnerabilities, and limited policy space could further undermine confidence and growth prospects’. The Development Committee, a joint IMF-World Bank body emphasized that ‘downside risks to global growth have intensified’ and noted ‘the crucial role of international trade for economic growth, job creation, and sustainable development’.

The impact of the Internet on businesses and the global economy has been crucial in shaping new economic models, and at the same time, raising new concerns.

The Internet is one of the primary drivers of economic growth, which is visible in many countries that have placed the development of ICT as one of the primary tools for boosting the economy.

This is even more evident on a regional and global level. For instance, the European Union directed a substantial amount of financial support to Horizon 2020, one of its largest programmes dedicated to financing research, development, and innovation, especially in the field of commerce, and particularly to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The impact on the Internet economy

The impact of e-commerce - which in its broad term encompasses e-money, digital signatures, and online advertising and marketing - on individuals and businesses is far-reaching. E-commerce has brought about numerous advantages for consumers, such as the convenience of online shopping, flexibility and ease-of-access to different markets, more information and choice, and - perhaps more significantly - access to online banking and e-payments. Read more on e-money and digital signatures.

From a business perspective, e-commerce has influenced the supply chain management of businesses by integrating inter-company and intra-company functions, optimising the flow of information, facilitating the payment process, affecting the delivery channels, reducing overall costs (especially the cost of promotion), and enabling companies to reach customers more easily through online advertising and marketing.

However, now that businesses have access to the global market, competition - together with the pressure this brings on businesses - has also increased exponentially, while shipping and delivery-related issues are more complex when serving a global market without the traditional borders.

Other issues which have been brought to the forefront are the liability of intermediaries for third party content, and human rights considerations. Since businesses are increasingly handling personal data of consumers, they also have to adhere to stricter rules concerning privacy and data protection, which requires a shift from traditional business processes.

Additionally, concerns over security are among the biggest issues that affect the development of the Internet economy.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging trend which is having a major impact on the Internet economy. The integration of the IoT into business models reduces costs and increases efficiency. Many new businesses are now utilising ‘smart buildings’ to optimise energy costs and preserve the environment. The application of ICT solutions into business processes provides businesses with a competitive advantage, which helps them develop faster than in traditional surroundings. Businesses are therefore demanding new tailor-made and innovative approaches from the IT industry, which is contributing significantly to the general economic welfare. Read more on IoT.

The latest model in e-commerce is the so-called sharing economy, which catapulted new players - such as Uber and AirBnB - into the global market. Such businesses have taken full advantage of e-commerce, such as through the integration of ICT solutions, by leveraging reduced business costs, and through more direct access to consumers. At the same time, such models have found opposition from traditional professions such as taxi drivers and businesses in the rental market. The regulation of the shared economy, still in its embryonic phase, is controversial.

A by-product of e-commerce is the emerging freelance market. On one hand, this has given rise to a vibrant startup community of freelancers and has contributed to strengthening SMEs and to reducing unemployment. On the other, this requires a new approach to labour, not least due to the treatment of income arising from online freelance work.

Another area that has significantly contributed to the Internet economy - and at the same time raised numerous debates - is e-gambling. Different regulatory approaches have been applied to e-gambling, due to its unique characteristics. The EU, for example, extracts this area from the regulatory framework for e-commerce, taxation, and e-money, and leaves it up to member states to regulate it. The sensitivity of this area and its interrelation with public policy, morals, the protection of minors, and cybersecurity criminal matters made an argument that regulation of e-gambling is more suitable to be conducted on national level according to each country’s political and social background. However, the interest of the global community for this issue is growing from year to year and even the EU has started to intervene on soft manner with various broad policy documents.

The economic aspects of Internet and electronic communications, broadly speaking, have pushed the liberalisation forces in these markets and have represented the foundations for the concept of a new market specific to the digital world. Even though a digital market is an excellent opportunity for economic growth, it brings with itself a number of regulatory challenges, especially with regard to competition issues. One of the current debates that is strongly related to the area of competition law, but in the same time net neutrality, entrepreneurship, content diversity, and freedom of expression is the ‘zero-rating’ pricing mechanism offered by some mobile telecom providers. Read more on Network neutrality and zero-rating.

Finally, according to the UNCTAD Information Economy Report 2015, the global business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is valued at about US $1.2 trillion, while the business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce is estimated at more than US $15 trillion. The report also notes that B2B electronic commerce is growing faster, especially in Asia and Africa.

Actors

UNCTAD is very active in the field of e-commerce. It assists developing countries in developing e-commerce legislation, through its e-Commerce and Law Reform Programme. The entity has launched the eTrade for All initiative, aimed to improving the ability of developing countries to use and benefit from e-commerce. As part of its ICT Policy Review Programme, UNCTAD undertakes reviews, research, and analysis on e-commerce-related issues. It also reviews national policies and provides policy advice to countries on areas such as developing e-commerce strategies and devising measures to strengthen e-commerce. UNCTAD holds an annual E-Commerce Week, featuring events focusing on specific policy areas of e-commerce.

Convergence is one of the digital policy issues that the OECD is paying attention to, especially in relation t

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Convergence is one of the digital policy issues that the OECD is paying attention to, especially in relation to the challenges this phenomenon brings on traditional markets, and the need for adequate policy and regulatory frameworks to address them. In 2008, the organisation issued a set of policy guidelines for regulators to take into account when addressing challenges posed by convergence. In 2016, a report issued in preparation for the OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy included new recommendations for policy-makers. Digital convergence issues have been on the agenda of OECD Ministerial meetings since 2008, and are also tackled in the regular OECD Digital Economy Outlook report.

ITCâs activities in the area of e-commerce are focused on assisting enterprises, in particular small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in acquiring the necessary skills and capabilities to trade on e-commerce channels. It has developed an e-Solutions Programme, which provides enterprises with access to a platform of shared technologies and services, including access to international payment solutions and logistics. A Virtual Market Place project aims to strengthen the skills of SMEs in the Middle East and North Africa region to effectively use new technologies to enhance their visibility on international markets. The Centre also offers e-learning programmes and produces publications related to e-commerce.

The Digital Single Market is a Commission strategy to remove barriers to online trade within the European market. The strategy aims at boosting the digital industry by creating an enabling environment for innovation. Other aspects of the strategy are advancing research, investing in networks and technology, building the European data economy, and improving connectivity and access. Other digital economy issues that the Commission focuses on, through policies and guidance, include the collaborative economy, online gambling, and the next generation Internet. The Commission also publishes the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), evaluating the performance of the EU and its member states in digital competitiveness.

As part of its World Development Report series, the World Bank published theÂ

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As part of its World Development Report series, the World Bank published the Digital Dividends Report in 2016, arguing that the Internet does not automatically bring about benefits for society. Policy, education, and much more are needed in order to ensure that the Internet has a positive impact on society. The Bank has done further work on the link between broadband and economic growth in different countries. It has also launched country-specific initiatives aimed at fostering the evolution of the digital economy at a national level, one example being the Developing the Digital Economy in Russia initiative.

Resolutions & Declarations

The second World Internet Conference (WIC) - the Wuzhen Summit was held on 16-18 December 2015 with the theme 'An Interconnected World Shared and Governed by All'. Pursuant to discussions at the High-Level Advisory Council (HAC), the WIC Organising Committee proposed an Initiative outlining the following issues: promotion of Internet deployment and development, fostering cultural diversity in the cyberspace, sharing the fruits of Internet development, ensuring peace and security in cyberspace, and improving the global Internet governance.

Resources

The session was moderated by Ms Nadira Bayat (Programme Director, Global Economic Governace (GEG) Africa), who started by stating that digital trade is growing very fast, expanding businesses, and empowering women. However, this growth has a lower impact for women, as they are not fully benefiting from the Internet. She stated the need to examine the approach of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) in balancing human rights values and digital trade. Bayat underlined that human rights principles are very important in addressing issues related to information and communication technologies (ICTs), and the access to ICTs by women and youth.

Ms Peggy Hicks (Director, Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)) started her presentation by asking: What is the link between human rights and digital trade? She explained that the relationship between technology and trade is essential for the development of countries. There are many opportunities in digital trade, however, one of the big tensions is the lack of regulation in digital trade. According to Hicks, governments are not fully prepared to take on the new challenges of digital trade, while allowing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to do global business. She said that Africa needs to look at the models of best practices of developed countries, and to try to do better in moving towards effective regulation of digital trade. Hicks said that as a society, we need to invest in technology, and that 25% of African countries are working on increasing Internet access to tackle the digital divide. She emphasised the importance of technological investments, and access to jobs through digital materials. In addition, she gave the example of mobile payment system M-pesa in Kenya, that empowers women to do business.

Mr David Luke (Director and Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre at the Economic Commission for Africa)highlighted the work of the African group in the World Trade Organization (WTO). He said that the African Union (AU) is cautious about the work done in the e-commerce programme.

He talked about the conference on digital economy, organised in July 2018, in Nairobi, Kenya. He gave national examples on supporting digital trade in countries such as the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Rwanda, and South Africa. These countries are developing competitiveness of technical skills in digital trade. He pointed to Rwanda as a good example in helping and engaging youth in hub technology in order to tackle the digital divide.

Luke also said that there is no consensus on e-commerce policy issues between the member states of the AU. He pointed to the role of AfCTA, signed last March in Kigali, Rwanda, to help the continent deal with digital trade issues. He said that the agreement will cover goods, services, payment issues, and more. According to Luke, the gender divide needs to be examined carefully in order to develop ICT competences of women. He mentioned the lack of data regarding trade-related issues that women in business face.

Ms Ololade Shyllon (Human rights lawyer, and Head of Democracy, Transparency and Digital Rights Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa) clarified the legal issues related to digital trade. She talked about hard laws and soft laws, and explained that African countries adopted an agreement on data protection in 2014. However, according to her, many of the countries are not ready to ratify the agreement due to challenges in privacy, data protection, and data localisation, among others.

Shyllon highlighted the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). She mentioned that digital trade brings many opportunities, but that we also need to pay attention to the lack of digital skills in Africa. According to her, African countries are faced with challenges related to digital literacy, and language barriers while using the Internet.

The moderator concluded the session with remarks on the huge role of human rights in empowering women in the digital trade. She said that technology and human rights are not separate topics.

Articles

This article argues that sharing economy business models must demonstrate a greater willingness to collaborate with governments, to help shape emerging regulatory frameworks, and to take an active part in countering the recent volleys of negative publicity that could undermine their innovative potential. It also outlines some ideas on how to underpin such a strategy.

Publications

The latest edition of glossary, compiled by DiploFoundation, contains explanations of over 130 acronyms, initialisms, and abbreviations used in IG parlance. In addition to the complete term, most entries include a concise explanation and a link for further information.

The book, now in its sixth edition, provides a comprehensive overview of the main issues and actors in the field of Internet governance and digital policy through a practical framework for analysis, discussion, and resolution of significant issues. It has been translated into many languages.

Papers

This paper looks at controversies surrounding the shared economy: one one hand, the efficiency, opportunity, and sociability advantages put forward by proponents of the share economy, and, on the other hand, the critics regarding its impact on degrading labour, exacerbating inequality, and commodifying daily life.

The paper, addressed to organisations that collect, store, or make use of personal data related to Russian citizens, outlines a series of recommendations on how to comply with the existing Russian legislation in this field, taking into account legal, organisational, and commercial aspects.

In this paper the author examines how competition policy can influence the ability of firms to reap the rewards of investment in research and development, and looks at the possible impact on Europe’s ability to produce and sustain big high-tech businesses.

This paper argues that design and enforcement of antitrust and intellectual property laws must be considered together by any coherent competition policy. These issues are examined in the paper, with the aim to define the efficient government intervention in the field of software.

Reports

The report assesses the state of network readiness (the factors, policies, and institutions that enable a country to fully leverage ICTs for increased competitiveness and well-being) of 139 economies, and examines the role of ICTs in driving innovation.

The report provides an overview of the US Department of Commerce’s policies in the field of digital economy over the course of the Obama administration. It covers area such as: management of the Domain Name System, privacy and security online, innovation and emerging technologies, and access and skills.

The report, prepared by the Global Commission on Internet Governance, outlines a series of recommendations to policy makers, private industry, the technical community and other stakeholders on modalities for maintaining a ‘healthy Internet’. It tackles aspects such as: the promotion of a safe, open and secure Internet, human rights for digital citizens, the responsibilities of the private sector, safeguarding the stability and resiliency of the Internet’s core infrastructure, and improving multistakeholder Internet governance.

The report addresses the potential of ICT technologies for economic growth, and looks at technical, governmental, and commercial challenges that, if left unattended, could lead to fragmentation of the Internet.

This report examines and documents evolutions and emerging opportunities and challenges in the digital economy. It provides a comprehensive overview of the digital economy, including matters of infrastructure, policy, net neutrality, development, privacy and security.

This report contains four messages: 1) the ICT revolution has the potential of transforming economies and societies; 2) the ICT revolution is well under way in some parts of the world; 3) the ICT revolution has not so far reached large parts of the planet; 4) Digital divides exist within countries

GIP event reports

The session was organised by BSR and The B Team, and co-moderated by Mr Rajiv Joshi (Managing Director, The B Team) and Ms Margaret Jungk (Managing Director, Human Rights, BSR). The event addressed the role of businesses in the framework of fostering and promoting the respect of human rights. More specifically, the event identified risks and opportunities for companies to improve the protection for human rights, and tried to explore holistic corporate advocacy approaches for the respect of human rights.

Jungk introduced the topic under discussion. For a long time, companies have lobbied governments for business-related interests. The question that the panel tried to address was to create a business lobby for fostering and implementing the protection of human rights, in order words, a lobby for better human rights public policy. Moreover, she underlined that ethical issues and considerations that should be taken into account while addressing the topic.

Mr Steve Crown (Vice-President & Deputy-General Counsel, Microsoft) talked about the role of companies in advancing human rights policy. In order to take on such a role, companies need to be trusted by citizens and customers. Microsoft has started to engage with the public sector for better public trust building, with initiatives such as their engagement in privacy security with the US government, their global initiative for the LGBT community, their Cybersecurity TechAccord, and their initiative on artificial intelligence (AI) and human rights. The representative stressed that Microsoft’s policy for improving customers’ experience keeps in mind the principle of boosting human rights and advocating for the rule of law.

Ms Shelly Heald Han (Director of Civil Society Engagement, Fair Labor Association) stated that companies have a crucial role to play in improving labour conditions; however, there is still a long way to go. Companies are mistaken in thinking that they need to be neutral with regards to government relations: they need to take a stand, and push for better protection of human rights. Moreover, the role of the civil society needs to be reinforced: the goal is to balance the power of civil society and make it comparable to that of businesses.

Ms Paloma Munoz Quick (Quick Director, Investor Alliance for Human Rights, ICCR) argued that corporate respect for human rights creates long term economic benefits. Investors need to identify human rights risks related to their business relationships. Companies need to do whatever it takes to protect human rights; moreover, they have the duty to leverage their power to push governments to create better human rights policy. Companies’ efforts on public policy need to be in line with their guiding principles. A concrete example of this can be seen by some airline companies not accepting to fly immigrant children separated from their parents.

Mr Bennet Freeman (Senior Advisor, BSR) argued that we live in a time of geopolitical disruptions in which companies should advocate for fundamental freedom and respect of civil rights. Nonetheless, there are examples of companies undertaking important actions and pushing better public policies, such as Microsoft and Siemens.

The session on 'Blockchains for Sustainable Development' was opened by Mr James Zhan (Director of Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD), who explained that UNCTAD is looking for solutions in e-governance, e-regulations and other fields to secure payments of businesses through distributed ledger technologies (DLTs).

He noted that blockchain's best-known application in 2009, cryptocurrency, has made an entry in many different spheres around the world, providing investment opportunities and giving developing countries the possibility to trace money transfers. Nonetheless, he raised concerns about the risks of countries being left behind through a deepening of the digital divide.

Panel 1:

The first panel was opened by Mr Jem Bendell (Professor of Sustainability Leadership and Founder of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS), University of Cumbria) who noted that there is a great amount of investments going into startups and other businesses in the crypto-space, and that there is often very divided media coverage regarding the technology. Some media outlets view it as a panacea, while others see it as a technology which causes more harm than good. He pointed out that blockchain is much more than a simple database, and that it is not the technology itself which will provide benefits for humanity, but the way that it is used.

He further stated that today, blockchain applies to much more than just cryptocurrencies. Its application ranges from supporting governmental communication systems to automated payments. He highlighted Kenya’s example where blockchain technology facilitates grass root collaboration, allowing communities to trade among themselves.

As a response to critics classifying cryptocurrencies as threats to the financial system and the environment, Bendell said that a fundamental overhaul of the financial system was long overdue. Regarding the energy efficiency of DLTs, he asked whether blockchain could be designed in a way that is more energy efficient, and that would favour a better distribution of wealth. He pointed out that any technology is about our intention, and that it could be shaped to help and serve our needs for sustainable development.

Mr Louis De Bruin (Blockchain Leader Europe, IBM Digital Operations) spoke about IBM’s contribution to the Linux Foundation, in making the Hyperledger project more sustainable.

In De Bruin’s view, blockchain is a business engineering tool that can enhance efficiency exponentially, as it contributes to making processes in all sectors more efficient, helping reduce waste and support sustainability. He spoke about IBM’s FoodTrust initiative, in which companies are working together to develop a blockchain that shows the carbon footprint of food, where it comes from, etc.

Other blockchain applications help trace the origins of diamonds and other valuable minerals, in order to avoid the illicit trade of blood diamonds and other illegal trading activities.

Ms Vanessa Grellet (Executive Director, Consensys Social Impact) noted that Consensys started its social impact coalition with companies and NGOs working with blockchain. Therein, securing and controlling value chains were one of the identified fields where blockchain could be put to good use. Another field was regarding the environment, as blockchain technology is used to help reduce the carbon footprint of products by reducing mismanagement and waste, and creating new markets. Additionally, blockchain is also used to foster financial inclusion.

The speaker pointed out that new focus areas have surfaced, such as defending human rights and human rights activists, supporting democratic processes, and many other fields.

Consensys is working on bringing more transparency into the charity sector and governmental funding. However, Grellet also warned that proposed solutions cannot be experiments, and outcomes must be foreseeable and measurable. For this reason, she urged practitioners to work with people on the ground who know the situation and dynamics in order to find adaptive solutions, to avoid doing more harm than good.

Mr Sander De Jong (Managing Directort, FairFood International) explained that the goal of his organisation is to help make food without harming the environment. He mentioned that up to 80% of our food comes from small farmers but that consumers are usually unaware of this fact, as well as the origins and conditions of food. For this reason, FairFood International saw an opportunity in blockchain technology which gives farmers agency, access to markets, consumers, and finance. Additionally, it allows people to verify the supply chain of their food

He used Colombian coffee as an example and said that traditionally, consumers only knew that the coffee came from Colombia because it was written on the package. With the implementation of blockchain, the farmers can verify this information themselves, and let consumers know that the coffee was actually produced equitably on their farms.

Further questions asked by the moderator Ms Galia Benartzi (Co-Founder, Bancor), were concerned with how blockchain could impact people and areas of the world with no Internet connection. De Bruin explained that a lot of the technology used to track value chains and products worldwide are operated with crypto-anchors, devices that are installed and set up in places without connectivity, sending information to the blockchain as soon as they reach a connected environment.

Regarding blockchain applications in the context of fighting climate change, Grellet said that DLTs offer opportunities for carbon credit offsets, and that they can be implemented to reduce waste in production lines, and to reduce energy consumption in smart houses. De Bruin added that blockchain technology does not necessarily have to be energy intensive, and future developments will decrease the amount of energy required to operate DLTs.

Panel 2:

The second panel was introduced by a keynote speech from Mr Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao (CEO, Binance), who stated that blockchain’s major contribution is transparency: 'With better transparency we can achieve 100 times more results'. According to Zhao, transparency is fundamental and will contribute to all 17 SDGs.

He noted that in the charity sector, up to 80% of donations do not reach beneficiaries, pointing to a lack of tangibility, achievement, and purpose of the funds that are donated. To solve this issue, he advocated for the implementation of blockchain, which he described as an immutable and transparent public record with the potential to track transactions from the source to the final destination.

However, he recognised that blockchain is not easy to use, which is why his company created a website to help users navigate and track their donations. In the case of a fundraiser after a flood disaster in West Japan, Binance was able to raise USD$410 000 in cryptocurrency donations, in addition to an initial USD$1 million donation. These amounts were published and can be verified by the donors through Binance’s website.

He also noted that blockchain depends on how we use it, saying that the tool itself is neither good nor bad. Industry leaders thus need to prove how it can be used for good.

Mr Chris Fabian (Co-Founder, UNICEF Innovation Fund) showcased the example of the lack of connectivity in Mauritania by showing a map of how many schools were disconnected in that specific area. He explained that these types of visualisations might help service providers reorient the areas to prioritise for infrastructure development and show vulnerabilities. The people, especially children in those areas, are vulnerable because they might not benefit from the same advantages as their peers in connected regions.

According to Fabian, there is a potential to utilise blockchain technology as a global public good that pools demand, and holds companies accountable to fair pricing, similar to what the public-private vaccine alliance, GAVI does for pharmaceuticals.

Ms Galia Benartzi (Co-Founder, Bancor) spoke about the way we perceive money, saying that money has the power of unlocking energy or power, but it went through different evolutions. It went from a gold standard to fiat currency, and is now becoming increasingly digital, wherein money can be produced by people.

She mentioned that societies without money are at a standstill, and resort to barter which is why Bancor builds liquid community currencies. Bancor aims to automate the activity of trade by matching buyers and sellers through liquid community currencies. These currencies can be:

Continuously liquid (can always find a buyer for your currency)

Stable and safe (no crashes because information is open and public)

Efficient and affordable (do not charge fees, allows any token creator to access)

Benartzi spoke about a case in Kenya where user-generated money had only very limited use because it could not be traded for other currencies. However, with Bancor’s help, they now can exchange their tokens.

Ms Marta Piekarska (Director of Ecosystem, Hyperledger) mentioned the paradox of blockchain being a technology developed by wealthy societies of the 'first-world', which is trying to find applications for sustainable development. She noted that inventions such as smart fridges, increasingly small microchips and other technologies might be useless for developing countries. However, blockchain allows creating direct connections between producers and buyers, and therefore has the potential to truly bridge the gaps.

She identified the certainty of verification and the traceability of the origin of products; the possibility to make direct transactions; and making sure producers are treated equitably, as some of blockchain's positive effects. She further said that where people usually require certain levels of trust before entering transactions, blockchain does not rely on that initial mutual trust, as it provides a system that is transparent. In the case of fair trade products, blockchain can also help reduce overall prices given that higher prices do not only stem from sustainable farming practices, but mostly from middlemen that certify commodities’ origins and conditions. Piekarska explained that Hyperledger is an open-source technology which everyone can use to build their own company and provide for themselves.

The moderator, MrGünther Dobrauz (Partner & Leader at PwC Legal Switzerland), asked about the biggest challenge the speakers faced with regards to DLTs, to which Benartzi highlighted the inability to have informed conversations about the technology. Piekarska identified the rush to implement blockchain as an opportunity, but also as a big challenge, especially given the immutable and permanent nature of information stored in blockchains. It is therefore critical to anticipate what will happen to the data and what kind of information is stored.

Panel 3:

Ms Eva Kaili (Member of the European Parliament, Chair Science & Technology Options Assessment Body of the EU gave the keynote address for the third panel. She spoke about the EU's Blockchains for Social Good prize which will award €5 million to the five most promising projects for innovation leveraging DLT solutions. She further mentioned that the EU has already spent €340 million for several pilot projects to help countries work together on DLT projects and announced that this sum will be doubled soon.

According to Kaili, blockchain technology can be used in a variety of sectors. It can help decrease international transaction fees considerably or be used in the health sector. Such is already the case with the My Health, My Data alliance working with different countries to share anonymised health data for research, to help find new solutions for infections and improving treatments.

As another example, she pointed to the price volatility in the trade sector, and the need of keeping up with rapid developments and changes in the sector. For this reason, the EU has created the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum.

She further announced the EU’s efforts to overcome crowdfunding issues. Whereas the previous regulations foresaw a cap of €1 million for money raised within one country, new regulations will allow people to fundraise projects with donations from all EU member states for sums up to €8 million.

Considering the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Kaili explained that the regulation was a principle-based legislation. Given this, it is not conceived as a regulation hampering innovation, 'It is principle based and thus stops where innovation principles begin.'

Mr Günther Dobrauz (Partner & Leader at PwC Legal Switzerland) said that blockchain is still at an early stage and that there is no dominant design or a widely accepted standard which would enable the technology to fully take off. Bitcoin is only one possible use of DLTs, but there are many others, and it will take more experiences to fully unwrap the technology’s potential.

On key issues and the potential danger for the conventional finance system, Dobrauz stated that the younger generations are much more aware and concerned about sustainability. Furthermore, they were brought up in the aftermath of the most recent financial crash of 2007, which is why they put more trust in programmes rather than conventional banking systems. He identified blockchain technology as a possible solution to rebuild trust in these systems due to its inherent transparency.

Mr Hans Docter (Director for Sustainable Economic Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands) pointed out that innovative ideas are usually sparked by things that are dear to the developer and that have promising returns of investment.

He spoke about trust and the lack thereof in different environments, but warned that while blockchain can provide solutions, it is not a solution in itself because mistrust can easily be transferred ito the new technology.

Docter introduced the Dutch Blockchain Coalition which brings different actors together in a joint venture between industry, government, and knowledge institutions to contribute to the coalition’s agenda.

Additionally, Docter mentioned generally being in favour of regulations, but warned against the hampering of innovation. He admitted that EU regulations still need improvements, and cautioned against over-regulating technologies at early stages. In his view, policymakers need to intervene and rectify certain developments at a later stage.

Mr Marius Jurgilas (Member of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania) said that blockchain has the biggest potential in environments where obtaining trust for transactions or processes is difficult.

He outlined the Bank of Lithuania’s rationale for regulating blockchain, which is about market failure concerns and potential systemic risks, as well as the catalysation of innovations.

In that context, Jurgilas mentioned initial coin offerings (ICOs) as an opportunity for nascent capital markets. However, consumers are often defrauded during these operations, raising the question of how policymakers can prevent these situations. So far, policymakers inform about the risks and opportunities of ICOs but their engagement is limited.

Another regulatory approach of the Lithuanian bank is the implementation of a technological sandbox. It functions both as a test lab for regulators, and as a catalyst for developers and it is currently supported by IBM and Deloitte. The advantage of this communal approach is that it provides governments with the opportunity to test regulations, while taking away the private sector's fears of damaging regulations. Additionally, the Lithuanian approach provides the central bank with the possibility to do 'in vitro' tests with a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and to lead by example.

The panellist noted that Malta has already noticed an increased influx of talents and projects to the island thanks to the adopted approach. Kablan also pointed out that an essential element of the framework’s success comes from the legal certainty and opportunities that it provides to investors and companies.

He also announced that the Malta Stock Exchange is currently working on ways to tokenise assets.

The moderator, MrJem Bendell (Professor of Sustainability Leadership and Founder of the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS), University of Cumbria), asked about the key elements needed for the successful implementation of DLTs. Kaili answered by pointing to the need of establishing more observatories reporting ondevelopments in new currencies, in order to give consumers the assurance that specific types of tokens actually have value. With regards to policymakers, Kaili stressed the importance of the ability to act fast, to be innovation-friendly, and business and technology neutral. She also mentioned the necessity of having common regulations on DLT developments at least across Europe, eventually extending to a global framework.

Kablan said that stimulating economic growth through innovation is very important, but that these developments need to be observed from a macro level as well, in order to intervene in time if needed.

Jurgilas noted that if regulators do not keep up with technology’s fast-paced developments, they will lose relevance.

Docter mentioned that Switzerland’s banking sector benefited from a similarly open approach for regulations as the path taken by Malta regarding innovative technologies, and the fact that legal stability has the potential to attract investments. He also cautioned against the risk of policymakers’ inaction regarding DLTs, due to the risk of missing out on investments.

The session, organised in partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), gave the representatives of investment promotion agencies from implementing countries a chance to present an overview of their experience with the guides. The online investment guides (i-Guides) have been recognised as helpful tools by investment promotion agencies to attract investors. The event continued with an open discussion driven by the following questions:

How can i-Guides be further improved?

How can i-Guides be aligned with countries’ investment facilitation agendas?

How can international organisations contribute?

The event was launched by a short introductory speech by Ms Isabelle Durant (Deputy Secretary-General, UNCTAD), who stressed that investment guides help countries attract investors, and constant feedback is needed to improve these publications. Furthermore, additional efforts are needed to make sure that as many countries as possible can access the project.

Mr Stephen Karingi (Director, Capacity Development Division, UNECA) presented the current state of play of i-Guides. He explained that the project complements the achievement of regional development and integration goals, as well as meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the region. He defined i-Guides as 'a digital solution promoting investment and helping the eradication of poverty'. They provide reliable and up-to-date information for investors, representing a successful project that will increase to 11 platforms in Africa by the end of 2018.

The session had a brief explanation about the platforms that provide information about laws; different types of businesses; labour issues; production factors such as energy suppliers; transport costs and infrastructure; taxes; dispute settlement; and boxes with 'what investors think', to cite a few. However, it must be noted that this also gives investors all the information they would need without visiting a country.

The session then featured the following countries’ experiences in using and implementing the platform. Madagascar explained that despite the fact that the platform was launched only five months ago, it has reached a considerable degree of success. The representative of Madagascar called it 'a marketing tool of choice', providing efficiency and accessibility; a comprehensive database; and, a unique canvas answering FAQs. The i-Guide is easy to edit and update, allowing improvements to the business climate. Malawi highlighted some of the challenges faced, mainly connected to slow loading of information. The representative of Malawi proposed incorporating the registration processes into the portal, and creating public awareness about the potential of the platform. A further suggestion was proposed by Nigeria, regarding a multilingual feature on the platform, proposing creating sub-national pages in the platform.

Finally, the event announced the future partnership with the Jamaica and Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies.

The ever-increasing use of Internet-based technologies for the production and trade of goods and services has changed how we consume, produce and trade. The digital economy has transformed global investments, and created new venues for tackling persistent development problems. However, joining the digital economy is still a challenge for developing countries in Africa and the Asia-Pacific, where some of the 3.8 billion who are not connected to the Internet are concentrated. Thus, this digital divide hampers digitalisation.

The session was organised in co-operation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and it addressed the following questions:

What kind of investments are needed for digital economy development?

What are the challenges in mobilising investments towards digital economy development?

What kind of innovative practices or policies help facilitate investment for digital economy development?

Mr Houlin Zhao (Secretary-General, ITU) recalled the partnership between the ITU and UNCTAD on investment development in information and communications technology (ICT); and stressed the importance of investments in ICT infrastructures to foster innovation, and stimulate economic development. During the last decade, ICT has achieved a good degree of development, and the World Bank has assessed an increase in global mobile penetration rates. It should be noted that the role of ICT in facilitating social and economic development is recognised and endorsed by ITU member states.

In terms of achievements, there are currently more than 150 countries who developed broadband policy strategies. Today, 50% of the worldwide population is connected to broadband; however the other half, which are concentrated in poor and remote areas, need to be taken into consideration. Zhao encouraged investments in ICT, proposing the four 'I' approach; infrastructure, investment, innovation and inclusivity.

Ms Nora K. Terrado (Undersecretary, Trade and Investments Promotion Group (TIPG), Philippines), stated how digital communications and services now play an important role in social and economic development. With this regard, efforts should be focused on maximising the use of ICT. She singled out the Philippines in the global picture of economic uncertainties as one of the most successful growth examples in Asia. Despite this, she acknowledged that regional economic imbalances remain, and that the issue must be tackled with inclusivity measures. She recalled the role of the Philippines as a player in the Asian digital economy, specifically with regards to business-to-customer (B2C) transactions. Terrado stated that the 'digital economy is the lifeblood of economic development'. To stress this point, similar to the argument of Zhao, she explained the Philippines framework of three 'I' areas of investment: innovation, interconnectivity and infrastructure. In terms of innovation, the Philippines are investing in an innovation strategy for industries. With this regard, she stressed the need for industries 'to go digital' and run at the same speed of the digital revolution. In terms of interconnectivity, she argued that digital technologies have changed customer behaviour and the way of doing business, thus, the digital transformation journey should be invested in to be at the same speed with the digital revolution. Finally, in terms of infrastructure, she recalled the Build Build Build initiative, a completely digitally enabled initiative meant to invest on large infrastructures and facilities.

The first panel discussion, was moderated by Mr Richard Boldwijn (Division on Investment and Enterprise, UNCTAD). Mr Javier Albares (Head Corporate Strategy, Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA)) addressed the mobile economy. He argued that accessing the Internet is going to be increasingly done through mobile phones. He talked about the 'digital economy of the future', consisting of two revolutionary waves. The first wave is the push to get everybody online, while the second one pertains to the so-called 'cognitive computing'. This second wave represents the most revolutionary one, which will be very expensive while raising ethical and business-model related questions. Another challenge the panellist addressed was related to connecting people who are not interested in - and see no benefit in - accessing the Internet. Albares strongly argued that there is no economic incentive to continue investing in digital infrastructures at the moment. Finally, he talked about the challenge of balancing conflict priorities.

Mr Fernando Loureiro (Senior Director, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Intel, Latin America) argued that the proliferation of digital technologies has created leverage for companies, especially regarding cross-borders services. Recalling Intel's efforts in such technological developments, he argued that as the world is entering a digital transformation process driven by data; there should be a focus on strengthening cloud services. He stated that crucial new techonologies need to be taken into consideration such as 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. He argued that a regional environment to attract business investments and to change the policy-making of digital economy is needed. With this regard, he proposed the following points to be taken into account:

Digital strategies should be focused on adopting ICT rather than creating it;

An affordable and secure digital environment is needed;

Trust is key, and discussions on cybersecurity should be increased;

Regularly meeting and evaluating implications on jobs are crucial; and

Adequate tax policies are needed.

The third panellist Mr David Harmon Vice (President for Global Public Affairs, Huawei Technologies), stated that we are going through a digital transformation in which we can see some digital policies advancing, such transformation, while others tackle ethical aspects. As technology plays a huge role in advancing several sectors, it is crucial to address digital literacy in terms of access and understanding new technologies. He argued that benefits are available, but they need to be maximised with education and literacy, put in place via good solutions and best practices.

The second panel discussion was moderated by Mr Dylan Piatti (Deloitte Africa & Chairman of the Board, Ecommerce Forum Africa) and focused on digital businesses. Mr Kee Lock Chua (CEO, Vertex Holdings) explained the private sector's advancing investment approach. He argued that the decreasing costs of new technologies is a key trend, which makes them increasingly available to a bigger audience. With this regard, he stressed that digital disruption is not limited to one sector. Finally, with regards to policy considerations, he proposed and encouraged committed and long term investments, as well as open market policies and regulations on intellectual property.

Ms Lexi Novistske (Principal Investment Officer, Singularity Investments) explained the work of the company in Nigeria, as oriented in digital investment. She stressed that in some regions of the world, such as Nigeria, there is a need for investment in fundamental building blocks, including digital identity and basic financial systems.

Mr Brian Wong (VP, Global Initiatives, Alibaba) talked about Alibaba’s investment strategy that aims to build the future infrastructure of e-commerce. He argued that for an inclusive development model, technology represents a good equaliser. With regards to financial investments, he stated that the aim is not merely financial return but also the following:

Solidifying market positions of core businesses;

Identifying new technology trends; and

Tapping into new addressable markets.

Finally, Wong explained that the following four barriers should be removed to effectively stimulate the transformation of the digital economy: government regulation and policy, access to capital and talent, infrastructure, and connectivity.

The final panellist, Mr Magdi Amin (Partner, Omidyar Network), focused on the topic of digital identity and on the fact that currently, one billion people do not have such an identity, and cannot participate in the digital economy, which is the backbone of the digital society. We have seen that technology can lead to inclusion or exclusion, and this is often related to security concerns. With this regard, trust is essential: There is a need to build trust on the Internet in order to use it for addressing collective problems.

The Global Leaders Investment Summit represents a gathering of heads of state, governments, and the CEOs of global private sector companies, aiming to share their insights and considerations that will feature in the rest of the forum and its outcome.

During the first part, the summit addressed the backlash against globalisation and its consequent unequal impact; risks of protectionism in trade and investment; and the challenges that multilateralism is facing. The first part was moderated by Ms Nisha Pillai (Journalist and News Anchor, BBC), and the summit was opened with introductory remarks by Mr Mukhisa Kituyi (Secretary-General, UNCTAD). Kituyi highlighted the pressing concerns of the investment community, stressing that discussions on these topics are needed now more than ever. He argued that the dynamics of globalisation have been driving worldwide political discussions. Considering all the threats involved, such as climate change and security concerns, the debate is focused on the question of who benefits from globalisation and who does not. He stated that the goal of leaving no one behind by 2030 is difficult enough, and needs collective efforts and commitment. With this regard, he invited the audience to consider the following questions:

How will the globalisation backlash affect international investment and development?

What are viable remedies in the field of investment policy-making?

How can more people benefit from globalisation, and how can the UN contribute?

Part 1

Mr Abdul Hamid (President, People’s Republic of Bangladesh), argued that globalisation is not a new phenomenon. He stressed how international production shifted due to the use of new technology, affecting some countries with unacceptable social costs. With this regard, he proposed to explore remedies that can be put in place to promote investment, and have more people benefit from globalisation. Currently, the growth in global value chains (GVCs) has stagnated, and it is crucial to increase competitiveness and access to global markets for those left behind. Moreover, he called upon the private sector to consider the international environment and sustainable development as pillars of their investments. Furthermore, Hamid stated that investments should focus on people, since human capital will be crucial for the demanding future. Finally, he restated that there is a need to act together for a better future.

Mr Khaltmaagiin Battulga (President, Mongolia) stated Mongolia's commitment to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), as the country has adapted its national strategies to address the SDGs. Moreover, he stressed the need for concrete actions to follow international commitment. There is a need to formulate investment policies in accordance with the SDGs, and to effectively implement such investments for development, through step-by-step targeted measures. Mongolia established public-private partnerships (PPP) thanks to an improved legal environment for investment, especially in crucial sectors such as agriculture. Battulga recalled the proposal of the North-East Asia Electricity project, and the importance of investments in sports for development. Finally, he called upon states, investors and international organisations to reaffirm their commitment to work together to achieve sustainable development worldwide, stating that, 'We have reached the critical moment.'

Mr Milo Ðukanović (President, Montenegro) highlighted the pattern of interdependence between trade investments and development. He argued that the market economy does not distinguish between big and small countries, but it distinguishes successful and unsuccessful ones. With regard to globalisation, he stated that the most challenging aspect is its continuum in changing the rules. The role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules for global investment are cruciall, as economic development changes the structure of societies. In addition, he recalled the achievements reached by Montenegro in sectors such as tourism, export, business and services, and acknowledged the euro as an element that increased money supplies. Ðukanović further explained Montenegro’s electronic portal for legislation, which allows more transparency for investors. Moreover, he stressed how global investments also bring value to modern civilisation. Finally, he concluded by recalling the importance of working together to increase the benefits of investments, and of creating the right conditions in which global investment can flourish.

Mr Vasant Narasimhan (CEO, Novartis) talked from the perspective of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies which invests worldwide. He explained that it is important for companies to build an innovation ecosystem, by allowing entrepreneurs to create new ideas and generate financial returns in a virtuous environment. Following this line, he highlighted four main areas that must be taken into consideration:

Digital and data science; 'We have to start to believe in digital and data sciences.'

A microclimate environment should be created through adequate legal frameworks.

Enabling the markets to develop is crucial.

The final panellist, Mr Paul Bulcke (Chairman of the Board of Directors, Nestlé), strongly argued that an integrated world is better than an non-integrated one.

He addressed the topic by stating that the private sector should invest in capital and human capital; governments should establish the framing for the private sector to do so, while complying with the notion of 'consistency in time'; and civil society should have a voice in the processes of multistakeholderism. Finally, he argued that digitalisation integrates the world, while the physical world is trying to separate it. Thus, inclusivity should tackle the issue of leaving no one behind.

Part 2

The first speech of the second part of the summit was addressed by Mr Hage Geingob (President, Republic of Namibia), who talked of the backlash against globalisation as having a negative effect on global investment. Globalisation has brought enormous benefits to humankind. However, it brings its own challenges, such as the lack of industrial capabilities in certain areas. With this regard, he questioned whether the decision will be to abandon multilateralism, or to hold hands for the benefit of humanity? To be effective, globalisation must be inclusive.

Mr Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen (Prime Minister, Kingdom of Cambodia) argued that the world is facing challenges in political, economic and social dimensions. Globalisation promotes global growth, and Cambodia fully supports globalisation policies that foster investments that are meant to tackle poverty. Cambodia is implementing efforts to promote greater integration and investments in all areas. Expressing his concerns regarding the severe global trade war, and the stagnation of trade negotiations under the WTO trade processes, he restated Cambodia’s support to all international policies promoting regional and international investment..

Mr Kocho Angjushev (Vice Prime Minister, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), highlighted the main successful elements that attract investors to a country. First and foremost, the rule of law and political stability of a country are crucial. Second, a country needs to be part of the bigger security picture (e.g. NATO). Third, successful strategies to attract investors are meant to guarantee access to high level technology and know-how. Finally, Angjushev stressed the role of governmental jobs in increasing the infrastructure capacity of a country.

Mr Roland Chalons-Browne (CEO, Siemens Financial Services) shared the notion of globalisation as a driver of a lot of benefits which are not accessible to all. Furthermore, he argued that protectionism is a reflective issue of the migration crisis.

The final speaker, Ms Nandini Sukumar (CEO, World Federation of Exchanges), talked about the role of exchange in financial development. Addressing the issue of stability and a resilient agenda, she argued that the following points should be implemented:

International investments in emerging markets should be implemented in a good legal and policy environment. A regulated financial market provides the basis; and it cannot be achieveded without sustainable development.

Upholding the rule of law is crucial for investments.

Cybersecurity is a vital issue of our times, and it 'requires global efforts and coordination'.

The session was moderated by Mr Felix Maonera (Deputy Head at the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group (ACP) Geneva Office) who started by explaining that the session will focus on the impact of technology on production and trade in small states, least developed countries (LDCs) and ACP countries. He stated that technology has the power to bring global and local markets together, and that innovation is an important resource for increasing production in the manufacturing sector. He also highlighted that for such states, transferring technology does not simply mean exporting or importing specific technologies, rather, it should mean building local capacity for efficient use and development of the technology.

Mr Andrew Staines (Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom Mission to the UN and Other International Organizations in Geneva) explained that the UK is making efforts in ensuring that small states can participate meaningfully in digital commerce. He explained that the recently-launched UK development plan also considers new forms of trade, including the digital economy. He further illustrated the UK Mission’s efforts towards aiding LDCs: the UK supports capacity-building programmes such as DiploFoundation’s course on digital commerce, targeting Geneva-based diplomats from LDCs. Moreover, the UK has supported the launch of the Commonwealth Standards Network, namely a platform for Commonwealth countries to exchange ideas, share best practices and impart knowledge, aiming to facilitate trade and foster innovation across the Commonwealth through the increased use of international standards. He concluded by saying that the UK also supports other programmes aiming to link trade and development (i.e. ‘how to do development in a digital world’), to promote digital commerce as a key player in curbing the digital divide, and to promote financial inclusion.

Mr Frank Van Rompaey (Head of the UNIDO Office in Geneva, United Nations Development Organisation (UNIDO)) first considered that industrialisation is a priority for LDCs as a way to add value to communities and start participating in digital trade. He maintained that the main focus of LDCs should still remain on the manufacturing sector which, compared to the service sector, is the actual source of technological development. He explained that the ‘Industrial Revolution 3.0’ has already started; however, in LDCs this process has still not been fully accomplished. Technology has the power to allow global value chains to emerge. The outcome of the revolution is that labour costs are expected to rise and hence force labour-intensive industries to relocate to LDCs. He then maintained that we cannot yet speak of the ‘Industrial Revolution 4.0’ because this process has still not affected production chains. He concluded by affirming that the opportunities and risks of the digitalisation of the economy largely depend on the type of the industry under consideration. For labour-intensive industries, the impact will not be as drastic as some commentators ventilate. He explained that there is still a clear window of opportunity for LDCs within the 2030 development agenda, especially if they focus on the manufacturing sector. In order for ‘Industry 4.0’ to develop, cyber production systems, a high-level of energy supply and well-integrated systems are needed. LDCs do not have those factors yet and their economies need to transform structurally first.

Ms Marilia Maciel (Digital Policy Senior Researcher at DiploFoundation) considered that LDCs need to put policies in place in order to participate in the digital economy. At the same time, she said that LDCs need capacity-building programmes to allow them to also take part in policy discussions at the multilateral level.

She explained that DiploFoundation’s mission is to analyse, map, decrypt, and build information and knowledge around what is discussed in the ‘very scattered policy debate in Geneva’. She maintained that most of the sessions addressing capacity building at the WTO Public Forum target mainly small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, she stressed the importance of not forgetting the policymakers, ‘those who develop the relevant policies for those who are on the ground’.

She then considered the three main challenges regarding capacity-development programmes for policy-makers:

First, there is an increasing intersection between digital and trade policies. Such an intersection was also present in the past (e.g. considering issues such as online consumer protection and privacy); however, the volume and the breadth of these issues are unprecedented. Moreover, such an intersection is not a language shift but a knowledge one: most of the regional trade agreements already have a clear digital component. And even if some countries are not part of such agreements, they are of importance to them as ‘when they want to be part of it in a later stage, the framework will have been already discussed for them’.

Second, there is doubt over if and how to engage in such negotiations. Negotiators will need to take their decisions based on facts, on the knowledge of the matter at stake. If we are talking about the digital economy, this entails a basic understanding on how the Internet works, its infrastructure, and the actors involved.

Third, trade negotiators need to find a point of common dialogue considered to be the existing asymmetries in digital development. Companies that are data intensive (e.g. Apple) have a budget that is higher than the economies of four LDCs together. She concluded by stating that this is precisely where capacity building comes into the picture. In the Digital Commerce course developed by DiploFoundation, the approach taken was factual, policy-based, and multidisciplinary as it comprised legal, policy and technical discussions.

The session was moderated by Ms Latifa Elbouabdellaoui (Directeur des Relations Commerciales Internationales, Ministère de l’Industrie, de l’Investissement, du Commerce et de l’Economie Numérique, Royaume du Maroc), who started by introducing the panellists. She said that there is a lack of infrastructures and digital skills in Africa. According to her, new technologies are present, but there is still so much to be done towards the development of the continent. In addition, Elbouabdellaoui said that when it come to digital trade, Africa is the least integrated continent. She argued that African countries must invest in education and digital infrastructures for better competitiveness.

Ms Marion Jansen (Chief Economist, International Trade Center (ITC) started by going through the ITC report, ‘SME Competitiveness Outlook 2018: Business Ecosystems for the Digital Age’. She talked about platform revolution and said that we are entering a new era of digital platforms. She pointed to the challenges and opportunities that this creates for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Jansen said that the information and communications technology (ICT) infrastrucure remains quite important for digital trade and that there are still many people offline, in places such as Nigeria, India, etc.

Jansen gave the example of Rwanda integrating ICT into logistics services, by using drones to deliver medicine. She noted the importance of building trust in the digital economy. According to her, big data has a great role to play in helping SMEs. She said that there is a need for a plan of action and for education in order to move rapidly into the digital age. In response to a question from the moderator, she emphasised the importance of the interoperability of technology. Finally, she talked about the issue of privacy and cybersecurity of enterprises. According to her, the key point for the SMEs is to have trust.

Mr Ajay Kumar Bramdeo (Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the African Union to the United Nations and other Geneva-based Economic Organizations) started by thanking the moderator. He highlighted the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA) signed last March in Rwanda. He argued that Africa needs to integrate itself into the gobal digital market soon, as it would bring so many opportunities to the continent.

Furthermore, Bramdeo asked how we can shape the challenges of the digital economy to address the issues of development. According to him, four African countries (South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, and Marocco) count for more than 80% of the exports. He emphasised the potential of e-commerce in increasing the competitiveness of the private sector, creativity, etc. He said that the integration of African countries in digital trade would help reduce poverty. In addition, he said that there is a need for co-operation between public authorities, the private sector, and international organisations.

Bramdeo pointed to issue of legislation when it comes to regulating digital trade. He said that it is often an obstacle to innovation. He also highlighted the role of the African Union in facilitating partnership between countries. Finally, he stressed that ownership of data is a big issue in digital trade in Africa.

Mr Diego Aulestia (Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the WTO and other economic organizations based in Geneva) asked what the context of digital trade in developing countries, such as Ecuador, was. He said that the benefits of digitalisation will not be automatic and that there is a need for economic growth, productivity, jobs, and transformation in international trade. How asked how developing countries could increase their share of the profits.

In addition, Aulestia noted that 57% of enterprises use a digital signature. He said that there are three major challenges: investment, regulation, and industrial policy. He further explained the development implications of e-commerce, for example, the transfer of technology, access to infrastructure, etc. Moreover, he mentioned that there is a need for digital capabilities, data sovereignty, industrial policy, tax policy, and articulation with manufacturing activities, etc.

Finally, he talked about the Agenda Elac2020 : improving digital infrastructure, digital government, regional digital market, etc. He said that Latin America, as a region wants more co-operation, for example, ‘South-South cooperation and Triangular’.

The event was organised by TechUK and addressed the rise of data flows, and technologies like additive manufacturing (3D printing) and their implications for global trade. The meaning of trade is changing, due to the evolution of cross-border data flows, worth trillions to the world economy, and the expectation of the global additive manufacturing market to grow rapidly through 2030. Developments in this field are challenging the notion of who is adding value, and where the value is added. Moderated by Mr Stuart Harbinson (Senior Consultant, Hume Brophy) the event was featured by a panel discussion.

The first panellist H.E. Andrew Staines (Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative, UK Mission to the UN and Other International Organisations, Geneva), talked about the trends of the last two decades. He argued that the expansion of service industries, in addition to the shift from analogue to digital, has created more intangible assets in the economy. Moreover, this shift has been characterised by a geographical shift, from the West to the East. As a result, there is an increase in waves of returns in intangible assets. He further added that latest trends have been affected by the fourth industrial revolution, the increased utilisation of data, and by the evolution of new technologies such as Internet of things (IoT), 3D printing, and others. Focusing on the UK, he argued that innovation is the foundation for competition in a revolutionised world of manufacturing. He concluded that in order to address challenges, rules need to be adapted to new scenarios, tackling issues such as freedom of data flows, and data tariffs.

The second panellist Mr Carlos Halasz (Customs Compliance Officer, Global Trade, HP Inc), gave an overview of the global manufacturing sector, which is becoming increasingly automatised. He explained that China has recently became the largest manufacturing hub in the world, while 15% of the EU's total added value comes from the manufacturing sector. With this regard, despite the slowing down trend in recent years, manufacturing continues to shift and centralise in specific regions of the globe. Halasz used the example of 3D printing, which was initially used for prototypes in its beginning stages, is being used for mass production since 2015. The technology is becoming more efficient and less expensive, therefore 3D printing has the potential to be as competitive as traditional manufacturing in the future. He concluded by stressing the importance of the sustainability of 3D technologies, which must able to produce goods without creating waste.

The third panellist Ms Karishma Banga (Senior Research Officer, ODI), focused on Africa, the challenges, and opportunities created by new technologies. She argued that the third industrial revolution created a wave of premature de-industrialisation in developing countries. With regards to the use of new technologies for manufacturing in developing countries; she pointed to an important digital divide that persists, for instance in the use of robotics and 3D printing capabilities. The impact of digitalisation in African countries is lower compared to global statistics. In terms of challenges, African countries are facing issues related to, reshoring activities; the limited future for offshoring; new goods and their related data being increasingly linked to pre-manufacturing; and the slow-down of convergence in manufacturing labor productivity. In terms of opportunities, they can benefit from the lower costs of production, trade and co-ordination, allowing participation in global value chains; and improvements in productivity that boost outputs, exports, jobs, and value. Finally, she concluded with a few recommendations to increase African countries’ competitiveness. There is a need to continue to boost traditional manufacturing, while at the same time, it is crucial to start the digitalisation of such manufacturing. In addition to this approach on traditional manufacturing, actions must be taken related to digital manufacturing, such as investments in Internet and digital technologies, and targeted skills development.

The final panellist was Mr Antony Walker (Deputy CEO, techUK) who gave a policy expert insight on the topic. He argued that the WTO agenda still uses the term e-commerce, despite the fact that the fourth industrial revolution has went way beyond that. He stated that discussions are inevitably politicised, and this could be found in the term revolution that implies dramatic changes, as well as winners and losers. Such discussions cover issues of privacy, children safety online, use of public data, artificial intelligence, and employment to cite a few. With this regard, he stated that while considering the potential to open up to new markets around the world, the aforementioned topics and concerns should be considered. Finally, he concluded by saying that there is a need to embrace the change, and that 'the old model is no longer applicable'.

Ms Claudia Schmucker (Head of the Globalisation and World Economy Program, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)), started by highlighting the important role of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the global economy, including for promoting GDP growth. Trade policy can either hamper or facilitate the future inclusion of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in global value chains (GVCs). However, SMEs are do not only react to the legal environment, they can influence it as well.

Mr Christian Diemer (CEO, Heitkamp & Thumann Group), stated that the impact of digitisation on SMEs depend on whether they are in the business-to-customer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) segment. In B2B, companies are less affected by digitisation, while B2C models need to change and adapt very fast. For a B2B company like Thumann, digitisation is just another step in evolution, and does not put into question the core business model. Nevertheless, there are new challenges for these companies, such as the rise in cybercrime. Small businesses often cannot afford dedicated IT security teams.

Ms Caroline King, (Senior Director, Government Relations, Global Head Business Support, Digital Government, SAP AG) noted that cycles of innovation are becoming faster, and company growth is usually happening through start-up and SME acquisitions. Large companies are interested in promoting incubators, innovation centres and capacity building.

Mr Robert Koopman, (Chief Economist and Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO) noted that SMEs are not well integrated into the global economy. There are barriers related to cross-border commerce, such as understanding the commercial and regulatory environments. MSMEs represent a large share of firms, but a relatively small share of global output (GDP) and exports.

Mr Ilja Nothnagel (Managing Director International Economic Policy, Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK)), commented on possible opportunities and threats that digitalisation can pose for MSMEs. He noted that companies are hiring more workers, but in different sectors.

Schmucker asked the speakers to reflect on the role of WTO negotiators, and what they can do to facilitate trade, fight protectionism, and integrate SMEs in GVCs.

Diemer disapproved of over-regulation. He opined that the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is too strict for MSMEs, and it slows down businesses. The WTO should help promote harmonised global standards that simplify the regulatory patchwork that companies are currently confronted with.

King opined that multilateral rules need to be stable, predictable, and harmonised. Markets need to be as open as possible for MSMEs and other companies.

According to Koopman, there is a general recognition that common legal standards would bring certainty, increased transparency, and lower costs for firms. The challenge is agreeing on specific standards. There are already agreements in place in the WTO that are important for MSMEs and digitisation, such as the Information technology Agreement (ITA) and the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

Questions from the floor were related to the role of the WTO in protecting MSMEs against Internet giants; national policies that demand local content and data localisation; costs of introduction of new technologies; and the importance of the Digital Geneva Convention proposed by Microsoft.

According to Diemer, small companies could be threatened by large Internet companies, but medium companies will not go out of business. Moreover, tech giants are buying creativity when they buy start-ups, which could also be positive. King reminded that Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Alibaba, and Microsoft are just a part of the Internet economy. There are many other innovative companies being created. In Germany, while large companies are crashing, MSMEs are thriving.

Koopman, opined that there is a need to understand which regulations can be better introduced on national or international levels. There are economic benefits of regulatory coherence, and a Digital Geneva Convention laying out principles could be an useful development.

Diemer opposed regulation that requires companies to open offices in other countries. He explained that his company opened offices in some countries to comply with local content regulations, but it was very costly to operate and the offices were closed.

Ilia argued that protecting small companies from large ones is not a good path, because they lose dynamism and the capacity to compete. It is better to strengthen competition norms, and to introduce measures to support SMEs, such as helping them deal with border procedures. He mentioned that the introduction costs of new technologies and processes are lowering, but there is a lack of skilled labor, so human capital costs are going up.

The moderator, Mr Eloi Laourou (Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Bénin in Geneva), started the session by stressed that a lot needs to be done to support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in least developed countries (LDCs), and that the benefits of supporting local communities and countries are substantial.

Ms Elodie Akotossode (FounderEd Tech Women and Ed Tech Academy) described her personal story of advancing her knowledge regarding new technology. However, she also noticed a lack of women in the field, and decided to establish an organisation to address this gap. The trainings offered have a local focus, are geared towards small vendors, aiming to enable them to make the most of their online presence. Trainings include web design, building online shops, product presentation, and logo design, among other topics. Akotossode stressed the need for personalised training, starting by identifying the needs on the ground in order to tailor the training as much as possible; she emphasised the importance of empowering women to make the full use of technology in order to avoid being left behind.

Mr Denis Deschamps (General-Director, Conférence permanente des chambres consulaires africaines et francophones (CPCCAF)) began by describing the work of the organisation. The standing conference aims to be a space for sharing experiences and information among member countries. The CPCCAF provides support for economic development and the business sector in member countries. It aims to foster partnerships among African countries and beyond. Deschamps explained that the CPCCAF also works with SMEs, in particular related to topics in communication and information technology (ICT). He stressed that Africa has the potential to leap forward using new technologies, such as drones and geo-tracking, and emphasised that the first goal behind these efforts has to be to feed people and contribute to their subsistence. The key, according to Deschamps, is to provide adequate content that meets the needs of people, and information that enables entrepreneurship, since there is no development without information.

Mr Carlos Foradori (Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Argentina in Geneva) highlighted that there are challenges as well as opportunities when it comes to technology and SMEs in LDCs. Challenges include the fact that LDCs have low Internet penetration rates, lack of communications infrastructure, high administrative costs for businesses (that want to take advantage of global markets), and lack relevant skills. However, he stressed that e-commerce and new ICTs also generate new opportunities. He mentioned the Global Trade Help Desk, and the Foreign Trade Information Centre as examples that try to empower SMEs in developing countries, allowing them to take advantage of e-commerce opportunities and global markets.

Ms Arancha González (Executive Director, Centre du Commerce International (ITC/CCI)) argued that it is time that LDCs move from being consumers to becoming producers of technology, technology needs to be a lever of development. González argued that technological innovation and digital progress is not only for the Global North, the Global South also has best practices that illustrate the incredible speed of transformation taking place. Institutions that focus on trade and investment promotion have an important role to play to transform big data to knowledge, and provide user-friendly intelligence based on big data, ‘big data for small businesses’. González stressed that it is crucial to zoom in on the ecosystem required for people in the Global South to participate meaningfully in e-commerce and make the most use of available technology. She argued that it is important to investigate difficulties faced by enterprises, to become more effective globally. Ultimately, the key, according to González, is to connect SMEs to digital markets.

The session was moderated by Mr Derek O’Halloran (Head, Future of Digital Economy and Society, Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum (WEF)), who stressed the role of digital trade as the main instrument for achieving economic development. According to O’Halloran, without solving problems of inequality in Internet access, we will not be able to benefit fully from the fourth industrial revolution. We must ensure that digital skills and infrastructures are accessible to the different regions.

Mr Jarno Limnéll (Professor of Cybersecurity, Aalto University) said that cybersecurity is a real issue for everyone, everywhere. He pointed to ‘digital security’ as the main instrument of the digital economy. He highlighted the issue of trust which he identified as the key point in cybersecurity. Limnéll stated that cybersecurity is an issue of attitude. Security must be the first point to think about when it comes to digital development. He stressed two points; strategic issues, and the leadership issue. If there is no leadership, we have a crisis. When we are talking about the future of cybersecurity, we must combine those two points. He said that we have to remember that there is no difference between physical and digital security. We have to adapt a comprehensive attitude on cybersecurity issues. Limnéll noted the importance of education and the need to train youth with the necessary digital skills.

Mr Rauk Rikk (Programme Director of National Cyber Security, e-Governance Academy) joining remotely, started by explaining the role of governments in digital services. He said that his academy consults various governments around the globe on cybersecurity issues. He explained their work on mutual recognition of electronic identities. He noted trust as the real issue of digital trade. Rikk talked about creating trust and ensuring security between different entities, and gave the examples of regulations in e-ID and trust services for electronic transactions in the digital market.

According to Rikk, we have to start with the digital identity of enterprises. It is something that we cannot avoid in digital trade. He highlighted the role of identification for good co-operation between companies in everyday activities. In addition, he said that countries usually start to think about cybersecurity after incidents occur. The problem of security is a point of management as well as a political field. He also talked about the important role of leadership in tackling cybersecurity issues. Finally, he noted the advantages of using the digital materials. For example, in Estonia, Internet voting costs less than physical voting procedures.

Ms Eneken Tikk (Lead of Strategy and Power Studies, Cyber Policy Institute) said that we are worrying about cybersecurity because we realise that economy develops faster by using digital materials. According to her, cybersecurity an instrument that benefits all countries.

Tikk explained that in the UN meetings, there are many points of view on cybersecurity. She said that a country like Estonia has a major role in helping other countries maximise the positive aspects of the digital economy.

Mr Karol Mattila (Head of Government Relations, Nokia) started by explaining the activities of Nokia, and highlighted key priorities to improve digital trade. According to him, the goal of his company is to work on achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) by using technology. He added that international organisations and civil society must come together to tackle the issues of cybersecurity. Finally, he said that cybersecurity must always respect the rule of law and the fundemental rights of consumers and citizens.

The session on digital trade was organised by the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI) and was moderated by Mr Peter Bay Kirkegaard (Senior Adviser, Confederation of Danish Industry (DI)). The session explored the rise of digital trade and the counter-evolution of digital protectionism, which is currently being observed by specialists. While digital trade increases productivity and provides better market access for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) on global markets, it also raises a range of concerns with regard to data security, privacy, and tech monopolies. In the absence of international rules to handle these issues, countries worldwide have introduced digital trade barriers hampering digitalisation and international trade. This is why governments and organisations increasingly demand multilateral rules that provide transparent and stabile regulation of digital trade.

Kirkegaard introduced the session by providing examples of businesses which are part of the DI, Denmark’s biggest confederation, which is privately owned, and showcased how data collected in one place of the world is being processed in another, in order to manufacture tailored products for their customers. He explained that certain members of the confederation voiced concerns about the evolution of the digital agenda in light of countries adopting more protective measures on data transfers and data localisation that could harm their business models. He mentioned that clients are in favour of international trade rules and that these same clients were also in favour of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) because it enhanced consumer trust in their products and services.

Mr Erik Van der Marel (Senior Economist at ECIPE) and his team created an indicator for digital restrictiveness in trends, and spoke about the rising trend of digital trade policies. In general, it could be observed that information and communications technology (ICT) services have grown much faster than trade in goods and commodities. Additionally, he mentioned that many sectors are not digital but are undergoing digitalisation. The importance of data across all sectors is also reflected in a McKinsey study which shows that the contribution of data to global GDP already surpasses that of goods, and its impact will keep increasing with the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced technologies.

The indicator also identified privacy and data protection as well as data localisation policies as being most restrictive for trade. As observed by Van der Marel, data policies, especially policies regulating cross-border flows, are rising. However, the economist noted that according to their findings, countries with more restrictive data cross-border flow regulations are benefitting less from digital trade. In order to overcome these challenges, the panellist mentioned the importance of multilateral rules and the creation of an enabling environment for digital trade, particularly with regards to developing countries.

Mr Pascal Kerneis (Managing Director at ESF) acknowledged that certain countries are in need of the most basic infrastructure for companies to have a chance of prospering in digital trade. These needs range from a continuous power supply to road infrastructure, and are not only the basis for digital trade, but trade in general. To that, he added, legal frameworks and access to finances are essential.

He further stated that 'digital trade is about services' and that 'data is a service', given that trade in general could not operate without the varous data produced, starting from the ICT infrastructure required to operate transactions, to the information analysis which is based on benchmark results.

Kerneis reminded the audience of the WTO’s precursory role in 1998 when it adopted a programme on electronic commerce and said that no progress had been made since. He is therefore in favour of the joint initiative on electronic commerce that 71 sates pledged to during the Buenos Aires round of negotiations, and would allow willing countries to move forward with an agreement on e-commerce. In that context, he also encouraged negotiators to look into free trade agreements that already adopted provisions on digital trade and data flow principles, such as the agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA), the EU and Japan (EPA), and the newly negotiated USMCA. According to Kerneis, localised data would prove to be an extremely costly solution that would only increase costs for consumers and businesses alike.

Frank Matsaert (CEO, Trademark East Africa) spoke about the transformative power of digitisation for trade, which creates a robust inclusive and sustainable operating framework for trade besides the creation of innovate disruptive models of operations. It also introduces data-driven, and automation-enabled trade systems and procedures. Additionally, Matsaert mentioned the redefinition of geospatial differences and the blurring of physical borders as results of these transformative powers.

According to Matsaert, the downside of these developments is the risk of increasing the digital divide due to many sectors of the economy in developing countries being weak and informal. In these contexts, alternative technologies are often accompanied with cybersecurity risks or cannot be supported effectively due to the lack of infrastructure. He also mentioned the lack of appropriate legal frameworks as being a limit to regional cross-border trade, for example due to restrictions imposed on cross-border money transfers. He therefore identified the risk of developing countries being locked into commodities and labour sectors of trade.

He further said that in order to avoid the digital divide becoming a permanent situation, solutions must be found to incorporate informal sectors into digital trade. Herein, he identified regional and shared regional capacities as being a good way forward. Bilateral agreements, especially on money transfers across borders, could also alleviate the situation. Additionally, Matsaert explained that incorporating these sectors would also increase efficiency and help reduce corruption.

Dr Burcu Kilic (Legal and Policy Director at Public Citizen, Access to innovation, Knowledge and Information Program) pointed out that data should be analysed differently than regular commodities, given that it is created and produced by us, and often comprises sensitive information about our lives. This is particularly important as 'whoever controls our data, controls the future', in particular with the rise of automation and AI.

Kilic explained that we find ourselves in a similar situation as with the first emergence of personal computers. People understood that great changes and technological disruption was to come, but nobody was able to fully understand and foresee how this technology would affect their lives. In this context, AI might be the next big disruption that we cannot fully understand and whose effects on our everyday lives we cannot forsee.

She further noted that 'your rights do not flow with the data' and warned that cross-border flows of data do not sufficiently ensure the protection of privacy. She therefore spoke about the necessity of governments aligning to increase consumer protection and of the need for trade decision-makers to incorporate consumer protection frameworks in future agreements.

The event, which was held in the exact room where the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) had been negotiated before entering into force in January 1995, was organised by the Department of Communication and Media Research of the University of Zurich, the Global Economic Law Network, the Melbourne Law School, and the European Centre for International Political Economy.

The session was moderated by MrWilliam J. Drake (International Fellow and Lecturer, Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich) and explored the challenges that growing considerations for data localisation policies might present to the international trading system, and the transition to a global digital economy. After a few introductory remarks, the moderator introduced talking points of the session, the costs and potential benefits of data localisation for developing countries; the extent of fit between data localisation and exception provisions in trade agreements; and the potential utility of informal intergovernmental, and inclusive multistakeholder dialogues can provide in data localisation that parallel and enhance trade community efforts.

MsMona Farid Badran (Digital Development Consultant, and Associate Professor of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University), who recently published her research on the “Economic impact of data localization in five selected African countries”, said that data localisation provisions would, as of now, affect developed nations more than it would affect developing nations, given their deeper interconnection with the global economy. Regardless, Badran said that data localisation would increase the cost of goods and therefore decrease national income, where these types of policies are implemented.

The economist further mentioned that benefits of data localisation in helping overcome economic issues, and solving privacy and data protection issues are often exaggerated. This is because storing data locally or nationally can be extremely costly in developing countries due to lack of infrastructure, electric power and other resources. She added that data storage policies would not facilitate creation of jobs but instead rely on very few high-skilled workers to be implemented.

The speaker presented the results of an empirical study which pointed to a potential 1,8% drop in the EU's GDP, if a limitation on cross-border flow of data were to be implemented. Therefore, imposing data localisation regulations tends to cut down the benefits of free flow of data, which reduces production costs; increases productivity; supports the creation of new global value chains; and is a driving force for the creation of new jobs worldwide.

In light of this, Badran highlighted the importance of striking a balance between privacy policies and maintaining cross-border flows of data. She mentioned the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) approach which enables free flows of data between APEC member states, even if governments do not formally recognise the other country’s privacy regulations, all the while guaranteeing a certain standard of privacy and data protection. This framework also suggests that businesses are held accountable for data protection by independent oversight entities. The EU-US Privacy Shield was mentioned as a further example of privacy protection models.

Finally, Badran underlined the necessity of well-drafted localisation rules, and reminded the audience that many African states had enacted laws on privacy and data protection this year.

Mr Daniel Crosby (Partner at King & Spalding) explained that in his view, no new regulations on data localisation were needed given that the GATS already covers the free flow of services, and data by extension. He mentioned that countries wishing to apply restrictions to data flows for specific reasons are already entitled to do so under the current GATS provisions as long as they are reasonable. He therefore saw no need for the creation of new regulations regarding data flows in the context of a WTO rule.

Additionally, he mentioned the risk of unfair treatment of other nations due to protectionist policies, and cautioned against the risk of countries trying to hide regulatory exceptions under the scope of data localisation.

Similarly to Badran, Crosby also explained that higher costs applied for data localisation would result in higher costs for consumers and businesses, and harm economies rather than help them. He further said that, especially in developing countries, infrastructure and equipment would also need to be imported, as hardware is usually not locally produced, further adding to trade imbalances.

Ms Lee Tuthill (Counsellor, Trade in Services Division, WTO) pointed out that data localisation laws do not necessarily solve concerns regarding fiduciary, law enforcement, privacy protection, industrial policy, cybersecurity and cyber sovereignty. She mentioned the Microsoft-Ireland lawsuit and explained that data localisation was not the main issue at heart, but that the solution rather lies with closer cooperation of law enforcement agencies.

With regards to exception rulings to WTO agreements, Tuthill explained that, no general statements about the acceptance or rejection of exception requests could be made, given that per WTO procedures, rulings on these requests are issued on a case-by-case basis with decisions are rendered by respective panels. The same procedures apply to regulations that might be used to veil restrictions for WTO members.

Ms Neha Mishra (Researcher, Global Economic Law Network, and Doctoral Candidate, University of Melbourne), spoke about the importance of understanding the institutional framework when analysing data flows. Given that these flows occur on so many different levels, locally and globally, it is important to take the complexity of the matter into account, and separate trade disputes from other fields.

The researcher pointed out that the debate about the benefits of data localisation is currently lacking empirical evidence, and is being carried out on a more ideological basis. Speaking about the costs of these policies, Mishra reminded the audience about the risks these policies posed to the open and free nature of the Internet, and cautioned against the fragmentation of the latter, due to increased difficulties in communication of information and collaboration mechanisms that benefit from the open nature of the Internet.

Similarly to the general debate about data localisation, Mishra mentioned that exception rulings should also rely on more empirical data. According to her, these findings are essential in measuring improvements, and determining whether they occurred in relation to stronger data localisation rules. Finally, the panellist highlighted the importance of WTO panels that do not shy away from these difficult discussions, avoiding forum shopping and creating a web of contradictory regulatory frameworks within different organisations.

The panel focused on the various applications of blockchain within the context of trade and fostering sustainability. It debated current applications but was predominantly looking into both the short-and-long-term future concerning the applications and implications of the technology.

Mr David Shrier (Associate Fellow, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford; CEO, Distilled Analytics) focused on the possibilities of tracing supply chains using blockchain. He cautioned that a crucial point is the data that is fed into the blockchain application and that it will be important to ensure that the data is of high quality. He highlighted that there are five elements to describe data quality: relevancy, recency, range, robustness, and reliability. These five Rs ensure that the data going into the system when using blockchain for managing trade and supply chains is suitable and of high quality. He also pointed out that this can be made less labour-intensive by using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the data input. In response to a question form the audience, he emphasised that the advantage of blockchain, in comparison to existing technologies, is that the information is stored in a distributed way. This means that many copies of the same data base are maintained and that the copy-holders communicate with each other when changes are made. This makes the system more fraud resistant. However, he also emphasised that blockchain is not magic; it will not solve the basic problems that are faced by every computer system, such as ‘garbage in and garbage out’.

Ms Zalfa El-Harake (Zalfa & Company) described herself as being an expert in supply chains, not in blockchain. However, she emphasised that the ability to understand when it is useful to apply blockchain to a supply chain is crucial. She used a case from the agricultural sector to illustrate the key advantages, such as traceability and sustainability, of blockchain. She emphasised that you cannot cheat or change a blockchain, unless many people can be convinced to do this at the same time. This makes the technology very useful for a number of applications. In terms of the uptake of the technology, she stressed that multinational companies need to be convinced with well thought-out proposals that clearly show the competitive advantage and a cost-benefit analysis of the application of the technology. All in all, El-Harake described blockchain as a new technical solution that can be easily implemented in the field via mobile phone access for example.

Mr Mac MacGary (Chairman Sweetbridge) described his organisation as an open source foundation that is building second layer protocols for blockchain. He explained how a couple of questions drive his current work, such as: How do we radically reduce costs throughout the supply chain (improving upon cloud and P2P)? How can we improve liquidity by freeing up capital? How do we make the trade system fairer, by using a distributed technology that alters the power balance within supply chains? He admitted that many cloud computing applications offer many of the same benefits as blockchain. However, blockchain offers additional advantages because it creates economic incentives to align behaviour across the supply chain, such as tokenising goods to ensure that a fair price is paid. Further, blockchain applications can be useful to eliminate intermediaries and share the resulting profit with consumers and producers. Similarly, bockchain might also be useful in eliminating foreign currency costs in trade transactions.

Mr Jazz Kang (Market Strategy Executive, Head of Trade Finance and Trade Logistic Solutions, Swisscom Blockchain) strongly advocated for the adoption of blockhain technologies. He emphasised that trust in the technology, which is still lacking, can be created by working through reputable organisations, such as Swisscom Blockchain. Kang went on to identify a few relevant use-cases for blockchain: supply chain management (auditing and managing changes), reducing the use of paper in cross border transactions and creating greater efficiency. He also stressed that one of the key issues lies in the adoptation of the technology, which requires bringing everyone, including competitors, to the table. In general, Kang predicts a wide uptake of blockchain technology, especially in the banking sector and that its use will become available for everyday banking customers within the next few years.

Mr Marcelo Garcia (Crypto Explorers) stressed that in business transactions, efficiency is becoming more and more relevant, especially where resources are very limited. Blockchain will be crucial with regard to trade (supply chains). He argued that the technology enables establishing a kind of automatable trust and stressed that ‘everything that can be automated, will be automated’, to for example, eliminate the need for intermediaries.

The workshop was organised by the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the WTO, and the Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO. It addressed the post-2009 financial crisis that left developing countries with persistent and large trade finance gaps, and aimed to discuss the eventuality of new technologies such as e-payments, blockchain, fintech, and helping bridging the gaps.

Moderated by Mr Marc Auboin (Counsellor, Economic Research, WTO and Secretary, WTO Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance), the session was introduced by Mr Mohammad Q. Haqjo (Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the I.R. Of Afghanistan to the WTO, Chairman of the WTO Working Group on Trade, Debt and Finance). He structured his speech around two key areas: the reasons behind the discussions on trade and finance in the WTO; and the role and mandate of the Working Group on Trade, Finance and Debt. First, he explained the reasons behind the trade, finance and debt discussions at the WTO. There is a deep interlink between trade and finance; 8% of today’s global trade has been financed through financial institutions. At present, everything is divided and institutionalised to facilitate trade, including for those struggling in accessing finance. Second, he talked about the Working Group on Trade, Finance and Debt which was established at the ministerial meeting in Doha, with the aim of studying how trade can best contribute to solving the problems of debt and finance. The group is currently focusing on ways to address the financial gap in developing countries, due to the following problematic variables: 60% of rejections in accessing finance are to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), moreover, banks have decreased their presence worldwide, creating a financial service gap, while regulations have become stricter, decreasing bank-to-bank transactions and relations. As a result, less money has been exchanged. The market is only for local banks, however, local banks in developing countries are lacking in human and institutional capacity. With this regard, he explained how a dialogue platform with private banks has helped in providingé loans for developing countries, and to the efforts put in place by the WTO in training professionals in 85 countries worldwide. Finally, he stated that the knowledge gap and digital divide are still the main obstacles in front of the implementation of technology for trade finance.

The second panellist, Mr Jean-François Lambert (Chief Executive Officer, LambertCommodities Inc.), talked about challenges small businesses in developing countries face. He shared his concerns regarding the capacity gap of local banks in providing access to finance. He argued that the trade gap persists as well, since currently the main lending activities are made to the same big companies, stating that 'banks have forgotten big parts of the world'. Moreover, he continued by saying that large banks do not want to take the risks and responsibilities that come with supporting local banks, and that political instability present in certain developing countries could also be a factor. Concluding his speech, he expressed his view saying that the current obstacles and challenges are not only represented in the financial gap, but also by a cultural gap.

The third panellist Ms Michelle Chivunga Nsanzumuco (Regional Advisor, British Blockchain Association; Executive Education Manager, University of Surrey Business School), addressed the topic of bridging the financial gap with new technologies, especially blockchain. The opportunities that blockchain creates are strictly related to the concept of creating value. She argued that blockchain is an enabling technology for everyone: it allows people to create their own value, such as M-Pesa did in Kenya; opening the market to local people; providing identity to people, and SMEs with digital identities, allowing them access to the market. Finally, she stated that despite the fact that blockchain is in its initial stages, there are significant uses already in place, and the way business is done will be increasingly affected by such technology.

The fourth panellist, Mr Vinay Mandonca (Global Head of Products, HSBC Trade and Receivable Finance), expressed the need for a paradigm shift in the way credit is assessed. The digitalisation of transactions through blockchain has positive effects on credits assessment, as 'visibility is a proven point'. He argued that it comes down to the concept of transparency of flows. Consequently, a question could be raised: Who is going to share the information, and with whom? In this context, blockchain represents a good opportunity because it does not require a database, and utilises decentralisation and democratisation for all processes. It creates the possibility of having a network of networks. Singapore’s new National Trade Platform is already using blockchain and benefiting from it.

The final panellist, Ms Emmanuelle Ganne (Counsellor, Economic Research, WTO), briefly commented on the points raised during the discussion. She argued that blockchain can be extremely helpful in building trust between actors, and providing more accurate traceability. However, traditional trade finance has not yet completely moved to the application of such technologies. With this regard, Ganne stressed two main points. First, blockchain technology guarantees the information that has been uploaded, but it does not guarantee the authenticity of such information. Second, is the question of interoperability; there are various blockchain technologies that are not interoperable with each other. Blockchain works best when the information is shaped through the same model.

After this overview of blockchain technology, she addressed the topic of new technologies enabling traders to move to a peer-to-peer model, without engaging with a bank. She argued that there are already fintech that leverage technology, and help SMEs to build their trade history; however, despite the new opportunities that technology creates, we are still trying them with the aim of benefitting from the intrinsic characteristics of such technologies.

The session was moderated by Mr Alexandre Daniltsev (Head, Trade policy institute (TPI) of Higher School of Economics (HSE)), who started by briefly highlighting the historic journey of international trade between countries. According to Daniltsev, digital trade is a great instrument for regulating trade in services, market access, and co-operation. He stressed that we have access to the digital economy in our homes. He also mentioned the General Agreement on Tariffs and Tariffs (GATT) as a big achievement which took ten years to negotiate. Daniltsev asked how many years of negotiating do we need on digital trade issues? According to him, there is the obstacle of protectionism and the risk of technological development. He gave the example of the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) as a model for fulfilling the obligations of digital trade. He reinforced the role of digital materials. He then went on to ask the two panellists to talk about developping rules for the future economy and the regulation of access to digital trade.

Rourke said that governments want to know how to tax online transactions, which could cause barriers to digital trade. He gave the example of 3D printing as being important for the future of digital trade. He said that data is essential to 3D printing, and that the impact of 3D printing on economic development is great and affects: business models, employment, increase in competition between the data’s owners, etc. He asked what the chapters on digital trade in the regional trade agreements (RTAs) are? For example, is the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA) going to improve to the economy of these countries in digital trade? In addition, he noted the challenge of domestic reforms.

Ms Rosemina Nathoo (Senior Trade Law Advisor, CTPL, Carleton University/University of Ottawa) started by thanking the moderator for the invitation. She highlighted the role of the CTPL in the practical experiences of digital economy. She gave the example of African countries and the Canadian Policy Agenda for the Digital Economy, and the steps they took to tackle the obstacles that came up.

According to her, a key priority is inclusive trade and growth. She mentioned the WTO Director-General support of a comprehensive and inclusive trade agenda in order to improve digital trade.

In addition, Nathoo said that African countries must change the way they are doing trade. Different countries are in different positions to take advantage of digital trade’s opportunities. According to her, migration and the question of identity could be solved by a digital identity. She mentioned that Indian citizens are digitally indetified. She said that nothing is moving forward on the multilateral level and mentioned the importance of enforcing digital trade rules, and the complementarity between the regional and international trading systems. Nathoo remarked that policymakers have to catch-up to technological development. She said that the new rules have to take the positive aspects of the old rules for the progress of the digital economy.

Finally, according to her, digital trade will have an impact on domestic, regional, and international levels. She reinforced the role of digital skills, data flow, and data protection in order to make socio-economic progress.

Mr Bekzada Abilkassymov, joining remotely, started by explaining how the digital economy helps the civil services in his country, Kazakhstan. He said that digital trade has grown in the last five years.

In addition, he mentioned various cybersecurity problems in Kazakhstan, for example, with the digital signature, online payments, etc. He stressed the problem of Internet access in the developing countries. He stressed that there should be a kind of ‘justice’ in the digital trade.

Chaired by Mr Marcos Troyjo (Director, BRICLab Columbia University), the panel discussed options to better equip trade negotiators to represent their countries’ interests and level the global playing field at various trade negotiation tables. It explored opportunities for trade curators to interact with technology leaders for the development of trade-related artificial intelligence (AI tools). In particular, the panel discussed the Cognitive Trade Advisor (CTA), a new tool in the area of AI-powered tools for (trade) negotiations that comes out of the work of the Intelligent Tech & Trade Initiative (ITT).

Mr Daniel Feffer (Chairman, ICC Brazil) emphasised that developing countries still face inequalities at trade negotiation tables. Since increased trade means increased prosperity, it is crucial that these countries step-up their efforts and that other countries intensify their efforts to support them. Feffer argued that if we are observing the advances in AI, and in particular the contributions that IBM Watson, an AI platform, was able to make in the field of medicine, we also need to wonder how AI can support the work of negotiators, especially in the field of trade. Feffer described how the CTA was developed as a prototype. IBM Watson was taught to ‘read’ trade agreements and to be able to answer queries from trade negotiators. The intention is that trade negotiators can save time on research and spend more time on building the agreements. With this kind of augmented intelligence, Feffer argued, better trade deals and win-win solutions have become more achievable.

Mr Bonapas Onguglo (Head of Trade, Analysis Branch, UNCTAD) argued that it is important to encourage the UN to use new technologies. He pointed out that trade and technology are a catalyst for the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and that AI needs to be explored in this context in particular, as far as it allows developing countries to benefit. Countries need a permanent supporting mechanism for trade negotiations in order to level the playing field when financial and human capacities are insufficient. Trade negotiators in particular face the challenge of having to be aware of a vast amount of technical details within complex agreements that can often span more than a thousand pages. Similarly, the institutional memory of past negotiations needs to be preserved in cases where negotiators often change. AI can be a factor in addressing these challenges.

Ms Ana Lizano (Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the WTO) brought her perspective as a negotiator to the table. In terms of trade negotiations, she observed a fast evolution and continuous disruptions by technologies such as blockchain and AI. She argued that new technology can play a big role in finding better trade agreements, automating ports and borders, reducing shipping costs, and increasing bilateral trade. In terms of negotiation support, AI-powered tools, she argued, can present suggestions and scenarios to enable humans to make better decisions. She also raised potential points for consideration, such as preserving the knowledge of experienced negotiators, engaging in meaningful public private partnerships, and designing new tools collaboratively and making them available to the wider WTO-membership.

Ms Julia Seiermann (Associate Economic Affairs Officer, UNCTAD) emphasised the need for levelling the playing field between developed and developing countries, and to work towards greater equality. Technology can help with this, but there is also the danger of exacerbating existing inequalities. There is a need to address the lack of resources, especially on the side of small and developing countries. The CTA could save resources and enable a more productive use of existing ones for trade negotiators and countries. The key, according to Seiermann, will be to make the technology and the data available to everyone and to tackle areas where data is lacking. Lastly, Seiermann emphasised that it will be up to humans, not machines, to decide which outcomes – such as trade, economy, or tackling inequalities – should be the main focus.

Mr Gabriel Petrus (Executive Director, ICC Brazil) argued that technology can build trust in the multilateral system of trade negotiations by addressing the lack of transparency (through public and open source tools). It can help in the reform of the WTO and enable a new kind of trade negotiation. The CTA is a tool that uses advances in AI to increase the productivity of trade negotiators. Petrus pointed out that the tool is useful in helping negotiators prepare better, building better strategies, and saving time in preparation and research for the negotiations. At the moment, the CTA focuses on so-called 'rules of origins' in the trade treaties, but there are plans to extend the tools to other areas with high relevance for trade negotiations. Petrus also stressed that the tool is ultimately always shaped by human intelligence.

Additional comments provided by Ms Lucia Maduro focused on the need for modernising the rules of origin within MERCUSOR. She argued that the CTA can be a useful tool in tackling the challenge of complexity and to ultimately develop a new model for rules of origin in trade treaties. Ms Sandra Rios pointed out that the benefits of the tool need to be clear, as well as the ambitions with regard to the scope of the tool. She emphasised that the tool itself does not provide results, but that it can help in levelling the playing field. Mr Nikolaus Schultze stressed that the CTA can be a big help for developing countries with smaller negotiation teams.

Questions raised during Q&A included: Who controls the data and who owns the data? Is the source code publicly available? Given that there is a fundamental problem with trust in algorithmic decision-making, does this make the tool potentially untrustworthy or unreliable?

The four panellists focused on the opportunities as well as challenges brought about by e-commerce for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), and set out to explore ‘digital de-colonisation for social benefit and successful global cross-border trade’.

Mr Andrew Ure (Head of Trade and Economic Affairs, Google Asia-Pacific) focused on the digital innovations that drive MSMEs, and argued that it is now easier to reach global markets. He mentioned that various digital innovations allow for easily available current market information, making it easier for MSMEs to find and integrate this information into their supply chains. Increases in computational power, combined with the low costs of cloud computing, further support these businesses. Platforms are crucial to reach customers around the world, and there is a symbiotic relationship between these platforms and MSMEs.

Ms Rupa Ganguli (Founder & CEO, inclusivetrade.com) pointed out that MSMEs often lack the resources necessary to access global markets, in particular the right information, routes of access, and tools that are tailored to their size and specific needs. She emphasised that collaboration is key. For instance, working through one platform can save MSMEs important resources, while increasing trust of global customers. In principle, digital tools allow for shops to stay open 24/7, and reach customers worldwide. However, many barriers for MSMEs still exist, such as a lack of customised banking solutions. Many regulations and tools for business are still geared towards big business, especially when access to global markets is concerned. There is also a prevailing assumption that businesses grow locally and only go global after they have reached a certain size. However, this is no longer true and new solutions for MSMEs are needed.

Mr Jake Colvin (Executive Director, NFTC's Global Innovation Forum) pointed out that there is a fundamental change taking place with regard to who benefits from global trade. MSMEs have started to benefit, and make important contributions by creating jobs locally through doing business globally. They increasingly use Internet-enabled technologies to run their businesses efficiently. Colvin highlighted the importance of connecting globally minded entrepreneurs with policymakers. Some key questions were: How do governments get to hear about this new perspective that emerges from MSMEs empowered by digital tools? How can they support MSMEs by fostering the right policy landscape?

Ms Kimberley Botwright (Community Lead, Trade and Investment, World Economic Forum) began by pointing out that the future of trade lies in e-commerce. However, trading costs for small businesses that wish to become global players are still substantial. She highlighted five key pillars to enable e-commerce: logistics, payment, digital customs, regulatory coherence, and e-transaction rules. She also emphasised the need for increased collaboration in regulatory landscapes, technical assistance, and public-private partnerships. Botwright identified these as systemic problems, and noted the importance of scaling up support for MSMEs, in order to achieve systemic effects. One way of doing this is by learning from how other systemic challenges have been tackled.

The moderator, Ms Lucy Hockings (host and presenter, BBC), highlighted that collaboration and connectivity stand out as key elements in creating better solutions for MSMEs and within this context, the panellists pointed to further challenges and solutions. Rupa mentioned that MSMEs need to be able to sell single products, rather than being forced to wholesale on global markets, and that digital solutions play a key role in this. Colvin emphasised how platforms can be used to create visibility and trust in MSMEs. Botwright pointed out that one of the challenges is understanding various problems faced by MSMEs when the issue is sometimes so complex that entrepreneurs have been prevented from exploring global markets in the first place. Ure mentioned challenges in affordability, and Rupa highlighted additional costs related to unconnected banking solutions, and inappropriate regulatory frameworks.

Questions from participants also pointed to issues of regulatory coherence. Challenges regarding a demand for free data flows in the context of developing countries who are just emerging in e-commerce were also highlighted. One commentator suggested to look at cases in which existing solutions for physical issues related to trade can also be applied to digital space.

The moderator of the session, Mr Pascal Kerneis (Managing Director, ESF), highlighted the issue of the rules of the e-commerce multilateral initiative. He stated the need for a commitment from the member states of the WTO, and flexibility on e-commerce debates.

Mr Alvaro Cedeno Molinari (Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the WTO) noted the historic journey of e-commerce, starting with the WTO's Work Programme on E-commerce that was launched in 1998, and the impact the Nairobi Ministerial conference (MC11) had on e-commerce initiatives in 2015. He also higlighted the goals of the e-commerce multilateral initiative, which are skills and capacity development in ICTs and e-commerce.

Molinari emphasised the fact that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have major challenges, and said that e-commerce is going beyond the electronic transaction services. He mentioned that although the same language is being spoken during discussions on e-commerce, the true problem lies in the lack of implementation of the decisions taken. According to Molinari, developing countries do not need to go though the same long journey taken by developed countries. He concluded by mentioning that facilitators of trade were technological materials, such as software and artificial intelligence (AI).

Ms Xiaolin Chai (Director of Trade in Services Division, WTO) started by explaining the role of telecommunications in making e-commerce development possible. She said that during the first years of e-commerce debates, technological issues were present. However, now the challenge for governments lies in tackling e-commerce policies. She pointed that during MC11, they discussed e-commerce, but there is still a difference in implementation levels.

According to Chai, MC12 would be the occassion to tackle the problem of momentum on e-commerce, stating that transparency is good for e-commerce debates between member states. E-commerce can be developed with commitment on infrastructure, and financial services. She concluded by emphasising the important role of e-commerce in the economic development of both developing and developed countries. Generally, there is flexibility for developing countries to allow implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).

Mr Hosuk Lee-Makiya (Director, The European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE)) said that there are many reasons to discuss e-commerce issues in multilateral meetings. According to Makiya, e-commerce is already multilateral; whether it is data protection, digital channels, payment for services, or other topics. He added that we need to recognise the impact of the US-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA), in affecting the future of e-commerce debates.

He mentioned areas that needed focus, such as data usage and localisation and connectivity, as well as specific digital taxation to digital trade. Makiya said that digitalisation needs to be viewed beyond e-commerce, emphasising that we can not resist the digitalisation of the economy. He noted that it is helping SMEs grow their businesses, and concluded by stating that AI is not a concept, but a real digital material that can transform the global economy.

Mr Adriaan Scheiris (EU Public Affairs Manager, UPS) started by explaining the SME trends in e-commerce, noting that there is a rise in businesses every year because of lower transaction costs, higher Internet penetration rates, and the impact of the WTO TFA.

He posed the question of how to enable and support e-commerce globally and concluded that data flows, privacy, simplified documentations, but most importantly, trust, were the crucial answers.

The session was organised by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC), and focused on issues and opportunities for workers and union members in light of digitalisation.

The moderator, MrGeorgios Altintzis (Policy Officer, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)), opened the session by sharing the news of Amazon’s recent decision to grant their warehouse workers in the US, a minimum hourly wage of USD$15. This decision came after persistent pressure from both the unions and the public. However, the company decided not to extend these salaries to delivery workers.

Altintzis further introduced the idea that greed will be an issue to be addressed in e-commerce. From a union’s perspective, he called for 'making unionisation sexy again', and for more governmental involvement in issues created by digital developments. The moderator urged governments to keep e-commerce out of trade agreements, at least for the time being.

Other issues identified by Altintzis included, the market power concentration being a threat to economic freedom; the creation of financial bubbles; the impact of social networks on humans; and the effects of digitalisation on democracy.

Ms Anna Byhovskaya (Policy Officer, Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD) said that there are three layers of data which need to be kept in mind:

How is data collected (i.e. through online communication, sensors, etc.)?

How is data processed?

How is data repurposed?

She further spoke about the fragmentation of value chains due to digital enhancements, and identified the trackability of services as a great improvement, but also a threat to workers’ rights. Workers are now constantly exposed to their performance being tracked and analysed. Use of data can become relevant for human resource processes, since this information can be used as grounds for hiring or firing an employee. The challenge posed by this development is that workers currently have very limited capacities to defend themselves against these practices, as they have no clearly defined rights of accessing this data.

With regards to global value chains, Byhovskaya spoke about the opportunities that blockchain technology brings, and the improvement in transparency it could bring to value chains around the globe.

Given the short-lived and rapidly changing nature of digital developments, the speaker highlighted the importance of being able to create ex ante regulations; citing expert views which criticise the EU general data protection regulation (GDPR) for already being outdated on certain points just shortly after having been adopted. Another regulatory measure that Byhovskaya identified was the enforcement of transparency standards under which companies have to disclose the use and purpose of collected data.

Mr Victor Figueroa (International Transport Workers’ Federation) mentioned the use of sensors and other information for enhanced trackability, and spoke about their extensive application in the transport and logistics sectors. These massive amounts of information can be used to discipline workers; benchmark workers against each other; and lead to a new form of efficiency maximisation technique, also referred to as 'digital Taylorism'.

However, Figueroa stated that labour itself is no longer a simple productive task, as it creates data. This information emitted by employees’ work must be compensated, especially in a context where data is used to analyse which processes to automate. He further explained that artificial intelligence (AI) will also have a great impact on the workforce, creating new kinds of problems, such as the question of how to interrogate a machine-based decision.

The moderator led the discussion towards the lack of worker protection within the business models of online platforms - such as UBER or Airbnb - which put consumers in direct contact with the service provider. Besides the risks, such as the absence of social security plans, tax deficits or training deficits, Byhovskaya identified the lack of portability of data of self-employed workers from one platform to another as a further problem. Figueroa explained that this phenomenon is due to platforms by big companies attracting customers with free services, but making it difficult to leave for another service. He stated that there is a 'supercharged tendency towards monopoly in the field of digital'. This dynamic is also applicable to service providers, given that an UBER driver for example, might not be able to transfer his ratings and recommendations to another operator.

The panellists agreed that these barriers are issues that need to be addressed by governments in order to force companies to take responsibility for their workers, be it through stronger competition laws, the application of national jurisdiction and taxation to services delivered in a country, or - in countries where it is not already the case - by giving self-employed workers the right to unionise.

Figueroa mentioned that in the UK, they are considering models for the greater democratisation of data. Ideas range from the creation of a digital Commonwealth - under which a databank would be made accessible to public institutions and startups for a cost - to the creation of a network similar to the BBC which would have an oversight mechanism; and various types of social media platforms being regulated by an ethical charter.

The moderator, Mr Andreas Klasen (Head of Institute for Trade and Innovation (IfTI), Offenburg University), started the session by reading a statement on behalf of the director of the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), highlighting the important role that trade plays in economic growth and development, and explaining the mission of the ITFC. He emphasised that the use of technology in global value chains (GVCs) is able to support agriculture, by facilitating transportation and traceability; reducing information and coordination constraints; and reducing the cost of trade.

Klasen asked Mr Torbjörn Fredriksson (Chief, ICT Policy Section, United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD)) to comment on the impact of digitisation on GVCs. Fredriksson started by highlighting the importance of the agriculture sector in many developing countries. According to him, there are three types of digitisation:

Thin integration, which is the use of digital technology facilitation for better coordination of the GVCs. However, it does not deeply transform the activity (e.g. use of e-mail, mobile, spreadsheets by actors).

Platform-based integration applied to price dissemination. In this case, ICTs support the dissemination of information in agricultural exchanges. They tend to be more successful when they offer additional access to a broader range of services, and capacity building assistance.

Full digital integration, which means creating data-driven value chains. It enables easy tracking of payment and risk of frauds, among other benefits. However, there is need for more research on the effects of these practices on inclusion. Trade unions, co-operatives, and other actors may be displaced in a scenario of full digital integration. Capacity building, training and technical assistance are necessary to avoid exclusion.

Mr Daniel Annerose (CEO, Manobi), stressed the need for not only market data collection, but the know-how to utilise data solutions to increase value in agriculture GVCs. In a chain, it is important that every player is known. There is scant data on farmers, how they produce, and their challenges for example. Data needs to be appropriated and used in a way that can specifically help the agriculture sector in least developed countries (LDCs).

An ITFC representative from the audience explained the mission of the organisation, which is to provide instruments to finance trade. Finance of agriculture represents 12% of the portfolio of the bank. However, some years ago, the ITFC mutated into a trade solution institution, that promotes trade development activities. Topics of interest to the ITFC's include: ways to improve agriculture and increase the volume of trade through collection of data, precision farming, and geo-mapping. He also spoke of the soil-mapping exercise conducted in five countries with the support of the ITFC.

Mr Henry Monceau (Permanent Observer of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie to the United Nations Office in Geneva), addressed the importance of technology for development. He highlighted that technology has broken down thematic compartmentalisation and silos, creating challenges. Developing countries also face difficulties storing data, and extracting value from it locally. Africa has a low retention capacity, and treats data in the regional level, for example.

Dr Ratnakar Adhikari (Executive Director, Executive Secretariat for the EIF), commented on the possibilities technology creates to positively transform the lives of farmers. Unfortunately, it is still developed countries that are reaping most of the benefits. For developing countries, there are challenges that need to be overcome, such as infrastructure, logistics, trade facilitation methods, payment solutions, and skills limitations.

The opening plenary debate of the WTO Public Forum 2018 was introduced and moderated by Mr Roberto Azevêdo (Director-General, WTO), who delivered a keynote speech on what trade will look like in 2030, while covering some of the topics that will be discussed during the forum, such as ways in which trade could become more sustainable. He argued that digital platforms are creating more ways of doing trade. Thus, a question could be raised: Is today's global trading system equipped to face the changing environment we live in? With this regard, the basic principles of the WTO apply, however, they are not enough. The evolution of technologies such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence (AI),

and blockchain is challenging the trade system by creating gaps in the current legal frameworks. Following this line, Azevêdo argued that 'we are not going to stop the evolution, but we can shape it'. Concluding his speech, he stated there is a need to start shaping technology, without waiting to completely understand all its specific elements.

The first panellist, Mr Erik Solheim (Executive Director, UN Environment, Under-Secretary-General), addressed the following question: How can trade help environmental sustainability? He stated that trade and environment are deeply interconnected, as both rely on the best use of resources. With this regard, Solheim gave the example of solar energy producing more energy than non-renewable sources in 2017, underlining that this could have not been done without trade. Despite the fact that global poverty has been reduced almost by half, the general perception is that it has doubled. This is due to a lack of publicity of data and achievements. Moreover, he advocated in favour of a triple win solution with benefits for people, by creating jobs; the environment, by promoting sustainability; and health. He stressed his point by using two examples; the introduction of ecotourism in Botswana, and the initiative in India to stop using plastic by 2022. Finally, he stressed that it is important to stop the fight between trade and environment.

The second panellist, Mr Jack Ma (Executive Chairman, Alibaba Group), addressed the question of trade in 2030 and shaping our perspectives. He shared his willingness to stop the fight between trade and environment, and adding that we need to stop worrying about the future and the evolution of technology. Ma argued that trade will definitely be different in 2030, but this should not represent a concern. He took the example of globalisation to show how at the beginning only few companies benefited from it, while today the percentage of businesses benefiting from globalisation has grown on a large scale. Following this line, he argued that in 2030 goods will not be referred to by which specific country they are made in, instead they will be referred to as 'made in the Internet' goods. Furthermore, he argued that e-commerce will be the leading force, and the service industry will create more jobs in the future than expected. For this to happen, it is important for small business to reach the market, logistics, technology and training. Finally, he concluded by stressing that we cannot stop technology, we need to embrace it: 'change yourself, but do not change technology'. During the Q&A session, Ma strongly argued in favour of innovation as a solution to current problems, stating that 'it is not the regulation that solves the problem, it is innovation'. By doing so, he underlined what, in his opinion, are the wrong ways of interference by governments. Solheim complemented the answer by showing the Norway system; where legislations are created after having open consultations with tech companies for an extended period, before implementation. With regards to the current US-China economic relations, Ma argued that tension is 'not good for anybody'. Tensions would affect not only US-China trade relations, but other countries as well. There is a need for collaboration in the creation of new jobs, and trade should not be the weapon to fight against each other.

The third panellist, Ms Laura Behrens Wu (CEO and co-founder, Shippo), addressed the question of how small businesses can be competitive. She explained how the idea of her business came into practice. One of the biggest challenges in e-commerce can be the shipping mechanisms for e-commerce stores. However, with the help of technologies in place, people can now ship directly from their online location to national and international locations. E-commerce does not have boundaries and technology represents a leverage for success.

The fourth panellist, Mr Tunde Kehinde (Co-founder, Lidya), addressed how to make finance available for small businesses. Explaining how technology can improve access to finance for small players, he talked about Lidya and its ability to finance small businesses within one day, using existing data. He stressed this point by saying that as long as small businesses in developing areas are good actors, and there is data to show that, they can get access to the bigger market. Finally, he argued that governments should create legal and policy frameworks that allow better clarity for engagement in the private sector.

The final panellist, Ms Christine Bliss (President, Coalition of Services Industries) talked about trends, collateral effects, and dangers of technology transforming trade by 2030. She argued that small economies will not grow unless trade and investment allow that. With regards to the service industry, she stated that services are integrated in all sectors, from insurance to financing. Moreover, with the advent of the Internet and the digital economy, there will be an increase in the importance of services for trade due to the evolution of AI, online platforms, and big data analytics, to cite a few. In terms of the collateral effects, the explosion of data flows should not be underestimated, with its close links to privacy and cybersecurity concerns. Answering to a question from the audience, she further stated that services will represent the new jobs of the future.

Finally, the Q&A discussion covered different topics, such as the future of currencies, and the use of cryptocurrencies in the future. It was stated that they will have to be supported by governments.

The meeting started with a general debate about item 4. on the agenda of the Human Rights Council – Human rights situations that require the Councils attention. Representatives from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and advocacy groups raised concerns about human rights situations that require the Council’s attention, such as but not limited to, refugee situations, the rights of children and indigenous peoples, the protection of children and refugees from torture and violence, violence and discrimination against women and girls, freedom of the press, humanitarian law violations, separation of immigrant children from their parents, and human rights violations in Myanmar, Rwanda, Kashmir, Bahrain, Tibet, Egypt, Vietnam, South Sudan, the Sub-Saharan region, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, and Nicaragua. Underlining the violation of human rights in digital space, Article 19 expressed concerns about the new shape of online censorship and the regressive legislation that allows for extra-judicial blocking, filtering and 24-hour take-down notices, putting pressure on media outlets to self-censor.

The session then focused on item number 5 of the agenda Human rights bodies and mechanisms and addressed the report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. The report was on on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises on the 6th session of the Forum on Business and Human Rights (A/HRC/38/49). Ms Anita Ramasastry, Chair of the Working Group,

Since 2012, the Forum on Business and Human Rights has become the world’s biggest event on business and human rights. It was established by the Human Rights Council with resolution 17/4, in which it also endorsed the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’. The mandate of the forum is to implement the guiding principles, to promote dialogue and co-operation on topics related to business and human rights. It must be noted that the forum attracts multiple stakeholder groups from state delegations, the business sector, civil society, academia, national human rights institutions, and international organsations. The theme of the 2017 forum was ‘Realizing access to effective remedy’, and aimed to tackle the gaps and shortcomings in current efforts, and promote emerging good practices and innovations to ensure access to effective remedy for victims of adverse human rights impacts of business-related activities. The multistakeholder discussion underlined the 3rd pillar of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: State-based judicial mechanisms, state-based non-judicial grievance mechanisms, and non-state-based grievance mechanisms. The Chair then navigated the discussion to issues related to human rights defenders and the role of business; to the connection between the ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ pillars and the sustainable development goals (SDGs); to the implementation of gender balance in both sate and business practice; and the interplay between new technology and business and human rights.

Effective remedies against business-related human rights abuses are often hampered by existing barriers. Thus, the Working Group stressed the importance of improving the third pillar through the following recommendations:

The state should put in place effective remedial mechanisms and tackle the barriers hindering access to those mechanisms;

The rights holders should be the focus and centre of the remedy process;

The freedom of fear from victimisation should be addressed;

Efforts should be effective in the process and in the outcomes; and

With regards to cross-border cases of human rights abuses, enforcement efforts such as anti-bribery and environmental protection should be implemented.

Discussions in the forum raised the need for greater effectiveness of domestic public law regimes. Moreover, crucial gaps, challenges and discrimination against rights holders or indigenous people across regions and industries still exist. There is a need to change the mindset of businesses and the state economy policy framework, from a race to the bottom’ to ’a race to the top’. Furthermore, it must be noted that states should not look at human rights as ’speed breakers to economic development’. The forum has become a means for dialogue across all stakeholder groups and a platform to launch initiatives and engage partners with them. The 2018 forum will take place from 26 to 28 November and it will focus on ‘Business respect for human rights – building on what works’.

This session was moderated by Mr Vladimir Radunović (Cybersecurity and E-diplomacy Programmes Director, DiploFoundation) and it addressed the challenges related to platform neutrality and discrimination in platform content.

It was noted by some participants during the discussions that the debate around Internet neutrality should go beyond Internet Service Providers (ISPs), considering that different bias in online platforms can also lead to discriminatory treatment of their users. The lack of platform neutrality is particularly alarming due to the platform’s worldwide reach and dominance.

Mr Michael J Oghia (Independent Consultant) pointed out that the goal of online platforms and private companies is to optimise the user experience. Consequently, they are less prone to disclose their algorithms, even in cases of possible discrimination, considering that algorithms and technology are protected by intellectual property rights. Someone from the audience counter argued, mentioning that when private companies reach so many individuals, on a global level, they should have some sort of accountability vis-à-vis our society. The responsibility of private companies has existed for a long time and could be used as model to reflect the limits between public interests and commercial ones.

Mr Arandjel Bojanović (President, Internet Society Serbia), mentioned that Facebook conducted an experiment in six different countries called ‘news feed’, which aimed to show to the users the stories that most mattered to them. Several journals and independent media complained that the visibility of their pages dropped massively. This example led to the following question: What are the limits for a private company to change their policies inadvertently?

It was discussed that private companies need to have a minimum standard of fairness. Some in-house principles could be implemented to reach platform neutrality: (1) To put the users first (as the main driving force); and (2) Inclusiveness. Furthermore, it was mentioned that monopoly and transparency are concepts that impact platform neutrality. For example, it was argued that four of the first eight social media in the world belong to the same company. Because of that, platforms should not abuse their monopolistic position regarding neutrality. Further, more transparency would help to enforce competition law and allow people to make informed choices.

This session was moderated by Ms Maarit Palovirta (Senior Manager Regional Affairs Europe, Internet Society) and addressed how data is giving rise to a new economy. The impact of international data flows on economic growth has been larger than that of traditionally traded goods. Favourable policy and regulation can enable the data economy to increase even more in Europe and elsewhere.

Mr Levan Kobakhidze (Chief Digital Officer, Beeline Georgia) emphasised that competition in the data-driven world is global. Currently, there are 2.5 billion digital costumers around the world. Almost 2 billion customers transact through mobile devices. These customers have different usage behaviour patterns compared to traditional customers, and that has an impact on the telecom industry, which has had a tough time. Telecoms are declining in revenue because customers use much less traditional calls and sms. Customers migrated these services to the Internet. Telecoms have reacted to that in four different ways: (1) analysing customers’ data usage to improve their offer; (2) creating their own personal Internet platform; (3) providing free apps in cooperation with various industries, such as entertainment and food discounts; (4) re-marketing, using chat bots to have direct contact with the clients.

Mr Pearse O’Donohue (Director for Future Networks, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission) stressed that the free flow of data is essential for the data-driven economy and that the primary target of the European Commission (EC) has been to ensure that the European single market and the European Economic Area are one single data space. There are still restrictions and localisation requirements of different degrees, but the legal proposal which is at the final stage of negotiation would seek to remove the possibility for Member States to impose data localisation requirements, except in the very extreme cases of national security. Europe has to ensure a certain degree of transparency, openness and fairness in the relationship between platforms, particularly when they hold a dominant position in the market. The EC has been reluctant to regulate in this area, but it wants to ensure a level playing field. There are competition rules that could come into force in extreme cases. Businesses need to co-operate and help institutions to tackle abuse. The European Union has been accused of protectionism in introducing the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), but these rules aim to protect the personal data of the citizens, even if they pose some barriers.

Ms Martina Ferracane (Research Associate, European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) and Cyber Fellow, Columbia University) mentioned that the restriction of data flows is one of the main challenges to the digital economy, because it fragments the Internet. According to Ferracane, developing and developed countries have been restricting data flows and imposing increasing restrictions to the movement of data in four different ways: 1. Bans to transfer data across borders; 2. Local processing requirements; 3. Local storage; 4. Conditional flows.

Ferracane stated that digitisation is threatening and transforming jobs. Investments in education should be made so that everyone can benefit from the digital economy. Redistribution is also an essential aspect of the transition to the digital economy, ensuring that people who are going to be left behind are supported.

Ms Piret Urb (Counsellor, Division of International Organization, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Estonia) said that it is a challenge for governments to foster citizens’ trust in relation to the usage of personal data. The Estonian government has done a lot to gain its citizens’ trust. The data that the state has on its people is also visible to them on their ID cards. It gives the citizens ‘control’ over their personal data, because they are aware of what the states has in terms of information. Estonia has also recently created the innovative e-residency programme.

Mr Jean Gonié (Group Director Public Policy, VEON) stressed that sustainable growth depends on a level playing field in terms of data usage. The understanding of the data value chain, the way that data is collected, stored and analysed by lawmakers, is necessary to achieve sustainable economic goals.

The second day of the EBU Big data conference started with a keynote lecture from Ms Katz Kiely, transformation expert and CEO of BEEP, titled ‘Disruption for the better? Changing the way we change’. She emphasised that in the midst of discussions about technology, ‘people are, and will continue to be, our most expensive asset. Without the right people, we are wasting our time’. She explained that to understand why people resist new ways of working, it is necessary to understand how the human brain works. Behavioural psychology teaches us that people do not thrive in environments of uncertainty, apathy, and top-down decisions, which is often characteristic of digital transformation processes in organisations, leaving people stressed, resistant, less productive and less engaged. Therefore, it is necessary to provide transparency and opportunities for participation, send the right message at the right time, and make people feel valued.

The panel discussion that followed, ‘This is not a big data project: Cultural change management (and how to overcome internal resistance)' further examined the topic of change in organisational culture, which is a necessary element of a data-driven strategy. Mr Jente de Ridder, senior web analyst at Humix, presented his research on the digital analytics maturity level of EBU members. The research is based on a framework that distinguishes between organisations that are ‘analytically impaired’, use ‘descriptive analytics’, ‘diagnostic analytics’, ‘predictive analytics’, and – the highest level – ‘prescriptive analytics’. He explained that maturity does not come from technological solutions: you need the right people. Depending on their stage in the maturity framework, organisations face specific challenges, such as a lack of awareness of the potential of data, a lack of management buy-in, and isolated teams of data analysts. And even for those who are most advanced, ‘innovation never stops’.

Ms Gunilla Ohls, director of strategy and business development at YLE, presented how YLE – the Finnish public broadcaster – has taken steps to change organisational behaviour to make better use of data. She explained that it is key for YLE to increase its relevance for people in their everyday lives, to invest in personal use experience, and to introduce a new form of working culture. She emphasised that this requires people to work together beyond their silos and embrace experiments. Ms Emilie Nenquin, head of CRM at VRT, provided a comparison between digital transformation in the media and the banking industry. The banking industry was forced to adopt digital change in the wake of competition, adopting strategies to ‘bring the bank to the customer’, while for many broadcasters, there is still a perception that generating content is key, and that ‘the user will come to us’. The media should be aware of the richness of the data that it is already collecting, standardise and structure its way of implementation, and embed this in the mindset of the organisation. She further urged organisations to ‘think big’ and ‘start small’, which will generate quick results and help get management buy-in.

Mr Ashley Friedlein, founder of eConsultancy, discussed the role of data in marketing and the importance of language. People are often unaware of what they mean when they say ‘data’ or ‘digital’. In addition, public broadcasters often use the word ‘audience’ (a passive mass of people) rather than ‘customer’. Changing this language could create an awareness that people need to be addressed at an individual level. Furthermore, he emphasised that ‘data is the new digital’, and new or separate data teams will ultimately be reintegrated into the organisation over time.

During the subsequent discussion, the panellists were asked about the most important prerequisite for change management. De Ridder highlighted the need to attract the right people and give them a platform to enable them to do things. Nenquin emphasised that it is important to start small and move forward, and Friedlein added that small beginnings need to be accompanied by vision and excitement, for people to be motivated and believe in the transformation.

The panel dedicated to ‘Personalisation: use cases’ was moderated by Mr Michael Barroco, head of software engineering, EBU. He explained that the objective of personalisation in media services is the delivery of the right content at the right time to the right device. The strategy adopted by the EBU for improving the quality of service also includes the co-development of digital products to provide the best experience via sign-on and data services. Mr Paolo Casagranda, senior research engineer, RAI, provided an overview of the new services that are changing the role of the radio to better match the changes of audiences and the different ways in which media nowadays is consumed. He presented three strategies of personalisation to keep radio relevant: First, the flexibility and the user-centric approach feature in customised services such as ‘live restart’, content recommendation, skip buttons, atomised news and hybrid content radio. Second, the personalisation of live radio via the mix of linear programming and audio on-demand could bring the programming closer to the needs of the audience. Third, the available time of the user and the context both matter, therefore input from big data processing (ratings, likes, geolocation, etc.) makes a significant difference in the radio offer. Casagranda gave the example of the pro-active, automatic audio content replacement on the RAI app based on a trial study carried out recently.

Talking about the Swedish Radio (SR) experience, Mr Henrik Tornberg, product owner and project manager, SR, presented evidence from their multidisciplinary team efforts in the past two years to personalise content as the biggest podcaster in the country. He explained that Alexa and Google Home are the new turfs to be conquered, since there is limited content so far in this area. They have been working on developing thematic episode playlists and automatic news playlists. The new SR strategy focuses on three areas: personal listening offer, episode as start page, data from user profiles. Tornberg’s team started working on the strategy after the adoption of the GDPR; their approach complies with the the GDPR and the EU provisions; the majority of their users allow the use of data for personalisation purposes. In addition to using algorithms to recommend programs, they also deploy them to puncture the filter bubbles of the users via editorial recommendations, which increase the listening diversity and the loyalty of the users. The strategic questions they are currently faced with revolve around cross-platform authentication in the case of pairing devices with home assistant services, the permanent recommender system infrastructure (should it be commercial, public service collaboration or built in-house?) and the relevance of the news offerings.

Mr Joan-Isaac Biel, data scientist, RTS, discussed the technical and organisational challenges of growing a data science team. More than gaining data insights and developing recommendation systems, RTS aims to integrate metadata quality, social media data and enterprise aggregated date into their management strategy. This started in January 2017, with web data collection, followed this month with mobile data collection and soon, with the integration of login in the web player. The data science team was established in October 2017. Biel shared three lessons from their experience:

Start as early as possible (get support from top management and engage with the rest of stakeholders fast)

Know your data before deploying recommendation systems

Simple is better (quick ‘kickstart’ to data collection, ownership of data and know-how)

The session concluded with a presentation by Mr Anselm Eickhoff, software architect, BR and Rasha Hasbini, business manager, EBU-Eurovision, on multi-purpose personalised online video distribution. Eickhoff insisted that only agility will save the public media service at this juncture and there is a need to adapt to the new mindset by investing in software development platforms and innovation units. There are several end-user experiences – mobile, desktop, big screen, no screen – that require collaboration in new areas and represent an opportunity to co-develop. In his opinion, it is key to have an infrastructure that would allow teams to be as innovative as possible, including enabling completing new editorial workflows to give curation a much bigger influence. Eickhoff and Hasbini showed how MANGO – a reusable online video distribution platform developed in-house – worked as a proof of concept at the World Economic Forum Davos meeting in January 2018.

Implementing an SSO step-by-step

Mandatory sign-in for video content is currently the norm in VRT, BBC, RAI, RTBF. The RTBF

representative, Mr Pierre-Nicolas Schwab, explained that the rationale behind the adoption of a sign-on system is multifold: on the one hand, the real-time recommendations and content portability are data-driven and essential; on the other, it is requested as part of the GDPR compliance and it is slowly becoming the standard in the industry. The choice is generally between developing such a system in-house (but maintenance might be costly) and buying it from a limited number of suppliers. For buying the solution, there is a fixed price (a minimum of ‎€10 000/month) and there are variable costs depending on the number of users. The RTBF opted for buying the single sign-on (SSO) system.

The technical journey to get users to sign-on was a complex one. One successful strategy was to organise a contest during sponsored events (concerts, festivals, etc.) to get people to register – the easiest option was with a chip identity card, which took seconds. All in all, 50% of participants created an account at sports events and 90% of these chose to use their ID identification instead of filling out a form.

The key in convincing people to sign up was the communication strategy. As of 19 February, the SSO has become mandatory, but there is still free access to videos embedded in articles and geoblocking in place for the moment. The latter will soon be eliminated inside the EU (based on a self-declaration of the user and a European phone number). The RTBF engaged in a proactive communication campaign on account creation, also highlighting that possibility to have content portability in the EU (Belgians on holiday within the EU will be able to watch the content freely). Around 700 000 accounts were created so far.

Schwab stressed that in an ecosystem dominated by Facebook, Google and web-browsing, there is a need to reach the users directly and to get the data back. The SSO starts with a political decision, but the implementation might take 6 to 12 months, whereas full deployment generally entails another 12-24 months. The price starts at around 100 000 eur/year.

Keynote: Children and data: How to shape a safe and enabling environment

Mr John Carr, member of the executive board of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety, started by outlining the UK context for the discussion on child protection. Whether Brexit happens or not, the UK will be bound by the GDPR framework, which is overall a positive legislative measure despite some limitations.

According to Carr, in the old EU data privacy regime, the word ‘child’ did not appear, nor was there a specific reference to age, with the exception of requiring the processing of data to be fair. Under this provision, there could be differentiation between child/non-child data restrictions. No data protection agency took any action in the EU as part of the previous regime in regard to the fair processing of data for children. The only occasion on which the Article 29 Working Party commented substantially, was the 2008 collection and use of data in the education system.

Under the GDPR, any person under the age of 18 is considered a ‘child’, as the GDPR acknowledges the primacy of international treaties (including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child). Any business allowing persons under 18 to use their services carries special obligations for addressing children, such as child-friendly data processing, (parental) consent, understanding that data is being collected.

A subset of children – individuals defined under Art. 8 of the GDPR as too young to give consent – require that the parents’ consent has been obtained before a particular service is in use. The age under consideration is 16, but each EU member state can decide to allow a lower age, as long as it does not go below 13. This leads to variations in the legal regimes applied across Europe. Data processors have the obligation to do a risk and proportionality assessment on all services that they provide.

New data streams, new metrics, new techniques: revamping measurement

The final session, moderated by Mr Jeroen Verspeel, head of audience measurement, BBC, discussed the latest data-related developments in audience measurement, as well as new opportunities for research and analytics teams. The two panellists, Ms Eija Moisala, head of smart data and audience insight, YLE, and Mr Ignacio Gomez, director of analytics and new projects, RTVE, shared their experiences in the area providing data from their own work. New data sources have been added in the last years to the traditional metrics, including SSO data, return path data or data broadcast consumption, captured via HDD-enabled TVs in real-time. While there has been high reliance on third-party analytics solutions so far, there is a move toward getting back the control of audience data and combining sources for a better understanding of the users. Overall, we can observe the trend of switching from content-based analytics to user-based analytics (including age and gender modelling that is currently made available with the SSO and history data of the users).

This also means that there is no focus on shares anymore, but on change and on new metrics such as time spent on mobile phones, frequency of usage for those under 45 and active usage of the registered users. The long-term goals – such as overall reach – are not changing, but many in the industry are working towards a unified reach. Loyalty metrics are also followed, in particular via the breath of services accessed by a registered user.

Analytics and user behaviour have evolved significantly, Gomez concluded, allowing for new, granular capability to work with segmentation and consumption patterns. Whereas three years ago digital analytics were kept separate from TV and radio analytics, nowadays they are all considered together. Visualisation tools are also in use and more is extracted from data science. New organisation and skills are needed, but Moisala warned that many organisations hire data scientists too early, before there is a culture around data management and insights.

Among the new tools deployed in revamping measurements in the sector are: dashboards that allow all key people to have access to relevant information, profile recommendation and profile discovery to identify opinion leaders and popular anchors, etc. Many of these tools are deployed in collaboration with local universities in Spain, Gomez explained.

The ensuing discussion focused on rating indicators and their relevance in the new digital environment. Since they are based on the density of viewing in a linear programming approach, they may not carry the same significance as before. Counting hours viewed might be more suited, but there are still limitations when it comes to comparisons and understanding what the audience needs.

Digital transformation initiative & mediaroad project

This session provided a short introduction of two new important projects for digital strategies hosted by the EBU. Mr Ezra Eeman, digital change manager, EBU, talked about the Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI) and its four pillars:

Map and define public service media digital transformation (completed)

Develop tools to measure digital transformation

Create a knowledge hub and identify digital skills

Support members with new digital services

Part of the DTI project includes the development of a toolbox – currently in draft form – which consists of urgency mapping, maturity assessment and a transformation grid allowing for the discussion of solutions. Additionally, the DTI best practices section allows members to find solutions and contacts across similar organisations. The next DTI steps consist of developing further tools and a knowledge hub, strengthening skills and defining new services and recommendations for member support.

Mr Nicola Frank, head of public affairs, EBU, presented the MediaRoad.eu project, funded by the EU through the H2020 framework. The focus of this project – Innovation and creativity in the European audiovisual and radio sector – is on bridging the gap between technology, innovation and creativity players, promoting and sharing technological advances and developing a longer-term policy vision. Forming new partnership with across different sectors is a complementary goal.

The MediaRoad project is built around three pillars: (1) a sandbox hub (innovation incubators allowing SMEs and start-ups to work within the broadcaster environment and test new technologies); (2) a policy hub to develop a longer-term vision for the sector; and (3) a network hub (a series of events concluded with a final conference in summer 2019). At the end of the presentation, Frank invited anyone interested in the project to become an official MediaRoad stakeholder.

Wrap-up and next steps

The wrap-up session, led by Pierre-Nicolas Schwab and Guenaëlle Collet from EBU, highlighted a few take-aways from the event:

more organisations are moving towards being data-driven, but this has not reached all the EBU membership yet (more Eastern presence needed)

trust in public service media must be a key indicator for modern societies

change takes time, a minimum of 12 months needs to be factored in

attracting data scientists is challenging and so is the collaboration with competitors

the personalisation of a service is not a feature, but a journey

a data architecture and data science approach is needed for reaping the benefits of the digital environment

In the coming months, the EBU will present the results of the SSO mapping and will finalise the revision of the TRUST(ed) guidelines of 2016. The Media and Digital Summit will be held in Brussels on 18-20 April.

The EBU Big Data Conference 2018 started with an opening statement by Mr Noel Curran, director general of the EBU, who noted that while in the past big data seemed like a distant goal, digital is now taken for granted and big data is no longer just a buzzword. Data has become an essential parameter in many media companies. Still, there is ‘huge untapped potential’ for data journalism, and the field of big data remains active and vibrant. Therefore, this year’s Big Data Conference focuses on change: how to make the right choices and innovate, while not losing sight of core values and identity? How to remain relevant in a future economy driven by artificial intelligence (AI)?

Curran’s opening remarks were followed by a keynote address from Prof. Fernand Gobet, professor of decision-making and expertise at Liverpool University, who explored how AI, despite the fears it raises, can be beneficial for all citizens and enhance media services. After pointing out some of the remarkable developments in AI innovation, he urged for optimism, as AI can address some of the limits of human expertise. As humans often do not act rationally, they are likely to benefit from AI in many different fields. In the area of media, AI could assist in data visualisation, news alerts, and fact-checking, and it could even write autonomously. However, there will still be a place for humans, as they will need to ‘fill the gaps between different AI systems’ in the absence of general AI.

Mr Carl-Johan Nakamura, chief data steward at IBM, provided a second keynote address, focusing on how data strategies can change a business, and how this change can be managed. Sharing his experience at IBM on how to institute a chief data office in 100 days, he addressed five key themes:

developing a clear strategy

executing enterprise-wide management and governance

becoming the central and trusted data source

building data and analytics partnerships

developing and scaling talent and capabilities across the company

He urged organisations to start small with scalable use-cases.

The two keynotes were followed by a panel discussion on the theme of 'Implementing big data strategies: insights from the media sector and beyond'. The panel was comprised of representatives of the media, insurance, and retail sectors. First, Ms Annick Deseure, data and insights manager, readers market at Mediahuis, highlighted the transition of Mediahuis towards a data-driven culture. Explaining the developments of her organisation, she emphasised that the role of the data officer in an organisation needs to be flexible, as it changes over time. She also shared a number of challenges that need to be mitigated to implement a big data strategy, which include preventing data leaks, ensuring data quality, attracting talented data scientists, and enhancing personalisation while avoiding being perceived as ‘big brother’.

Ms Linda van Dijk, adjunct director of analytics at DKV, provided the perspective from a health insurer. She explained the characteristics of an ‘intelligent organisation’, where insights are harvested consistently and continuously through analytics. She identified four pillars that need to be addressed to get there: technology, data governance, analytics competence, and a data-driven decision-making culture. Mr Xavier Valentini, customer insights manager at Delhaize, shared his experience from the retail sector. He explained that data analytics used to be performed by different departments, generating difficulties in centralising and coordinating data collection and analyses. The teams have now merged into one ‘consumer intelligence’ team, tasked both with generating insights and designing tools and applications. As key challenges for 2018, Valentini identified the task to move from analysis to story-telling; creating a cultural shift in the organisation; and complying to EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which requires intensive collaboration with the data protection team.

The discussion that followed addressed the challenge of avoiding ‘being swallowed by the Facebooks and Googles of this world’. The speakers agreed that collaboration is necessary, sometimes even with competitors in the sector. In addition, Valentini recommended playing on the organisation’s strengths compared to the Internet industry. Furthermore, to be able to recruit talent, it is important to create the right environment for data scientists within the organisation, for example by giving them flexibility and a sense of ownership.

The next panel, entitled ‘Awake the sleeping giants: bringing data into newsrooms’, focused on the promises of data journalism, and how they can be put into practice. Moderator Mr Mirko Lorenz,innovation manager at Deutsche Welle, highlighted that data is so far only used by a small number of newsrooms, and that in time-constrained situations, there is often no incentive to check and analyse data. Bringing data into newsrooms will therefore require new skills and a new way of thinking. At the same time, data journalism is not confined to big news outlets; starting with a small team is often a better first step. Mr Julian Schmidli,reporter and editor for SRF data, is part of such a small data team. His team benefits from the flexibility provided by the SRF, and he explained that the team works as transparently as possible, publishing every code together with the data analysis.

Mr David Bauer, head of storytelling at NZZ, presented ‘Q’, a toolbox that NZZ created to make it easy for journalists to add visual elements to their stories, such as supporting maps and charts. Bauer and his team started with the aim that it should not take journalists longer than 5 minutes to create a visual element. Yet, he emphasised that the availability of tools is not the crucial point; ‘it’s about getting people to use them’. Changing towards a data culture requires both bottom-up and top-level decisions. Ms Sylke Gruhnwald, reporter at Republik and chairwoman of Journalismfund.eu, presented the recently-founded Swiss magazine Republik, which combines data journalism with story-telling, and Mr Gian-Paolo Accardo,co-founder and CEO of VOXEurop and editorial coordinator of the European Data Journalism Network, presented some of the tools developed by the European Data Journalism Network, which aim to make complex issues as simple as possible, in order for Europeans to better understand Europe.

The discussion that followed raised the question of whether these initiatives risked reinventing the wheel, bearing in mind the many tools that are already ‘out there’. Bauer explained that although there are a lot of tools, they all serve different purposes, have different interfaces, and might not be compatible. In addition. Lorenz added that tools that are specifically developed for journalists allow news outlets to add their own layout and branding. Schmidli cautioned against relying on third-party software, as it could cease to exist in the future.

When asked about their hopes for the future of data journalism, Bauer and Gruhnwald argued to put the term ‘data journalism’ to rest: ‘data journalism is journalism when it’s good’, it should be expected of journalists to use data whenever it is available for reporting. Schmidli added that innovation in journalism will always evolve, and that it is important to create data literacy among journalists. Accardo wished for the public to have more confidence in data journalism’s ability to counter nonsense.

Continuing on the topic of data journalism, the next panel demonstrated two case studies of data journalism by public broadcasters. Ms Christine Jeavans, senior data journalist at the BBC, talked about the creation of the NHS Tracker, which presents the average waiting time for each hospital in the UK. Mr Teemo Tebest, data journalist at YLE, presented the Municipality Radar, which was used during the municipal elections in Finland. Both cases emphasised the need to create analyses that are relevant for citizens, affecting a lot of people, and that can be used in multiple ways. They also expressed the need for the data teams to be well-integrated within the rest of the organisation, and to make use of the expertise that is already in the organisation.

The day closed with two breakout sessions, one of which was related to 'data, elections, polls and the democratic game'.The session aimed to explore the influence of data on democracy and elections. How is data mismanaged to influence election results? Are polls still relevant? Can we use big data to contribute to a better democracy? Prof. Arturo Di Corinto, professor, journalist and hacktivist, spoke about the role of fake news, in particular related to the upcoming Italian elections. He explained that there are still many unknowns about the role of fake news in guiding the electorate. While it can ‘pollute public debate’, fake news rarely creates a new way of thinking; rather, it confirms prejudices. The role of fake news in elections is furthermore dependent on the credibility of public media and institutions.

Ms Vidya Narayanan, researcher at the Computational Propaganda Project, Oxford University, spoke about how social media supports misinformation campaigns, how they muddy the democratic discourse, and possibly influence voter preferences. Showing two case studies, she concluded that while there is extensive ‘junk news’ in the social media ecosystem, there is no sufficient evidence that this changes voting preferences.

Mr Leendert de Voogd, project director Social Intelligence and Analytics, IPSOS, reflected on the continued relevance of election and public opinion polls. He recommended a smart combination of traditional methods with big data and AI: ‘The future of polling is to leverage the power of AI in methodology, mixed with a sound analytical framework that has been successful over the last 80 years’.

The ‘Future of Work’ discussion took place on 2 November 2017 at the Auditorium of The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID). Mr Ryan Avent, Senior Editor and Economics Columnist, The Economist, moderated the panel discussion and welcomed the audience by reminding them of the crucial impact that automation will have on the job market.

The discussion was launched by Dr Richard Baldwin, Professor of International Economics, IHEID, who considered what kind of impact technology will have on economic growth in the upcoming years. He affirmed that figures do not point towards an optimistic future: in the past information and communications technologies (ICTs) (i.e. automation) have mainly affected the manufacturing sector; however, recently technology has come to affect the service sector where it is estimated that about two-thirds of people are employed. Moreover, job replacement in the service sector will be faster in pace when compared to the manufacturing sector. He then argued that this phenomenon is already occurring in specific sectors, such as the web development sector where remote working (i.e. ‘telecommuting’) is already possible. In these cases, most the work carried out is domestic.

Dr Baldwin stated that such an impact is certainly posing challenges on two grounds. On the one hand, we need not to forget the consequences at a society level: there is the danger of a popular backlash blaming the job losses on technologies (rather than on countries’ policies). On the other hand, not the whole service sector will be automated. Artificial intelligence (AI) is actually ‘almost intelligence’ as computers can recognise common patterns; hence, some functions of the service sector (e.g. parking a car) will be difficult to automate. Moreover, computers can ‘learn’ only when clear, sufficient sets of data are available. An example of this aspect is Swedish-speaking robot ‘Emilia’ which is not able to speak Swedish dialects because of the lack of sufficient data. The limit of machine-learning is represented by uncertainty and unpredictability which results, in job market terms, in soft skills.

Finally, Dr Baldwin asked the audience whether job loss caused by automation, and job creation due to reconfiguration of the market, will result in a zero-sum effect. The answer to this question varies depending on economies. Regarding developing countries, the main drive is currently economic growth characterised by industrialisation following the value chain and agglomeration economy (e.g. ports, roads), and emerging markets will be spreading more with a micro perspective. Concerning developed countries, the perspective is not optimistic as automation is causing big disruption with numerous backlashes (e.g. regulations regarding Uber and Airbnb). In the longer run, such economies will see a constant readjustment of job skills (e.g. shorter training spans) with more focus posed on non-automatable skills (e.g. soft skills).

Avent opened the panel discussion by asking the panellists three provoking questions.

1. What would happen if 50% of the workers went to the gig economy?

Ms Linda Kromjong, Secretary General, International Organization of Employers (IOE), asserted that that scenario will not be ‘as big of a change as we think’, considering that we are already working in a gig economy. The core element will be the pace with which the job market will adjust to the economy’s configuration which will depend solely on countries. She stressed that the key words are agility and flexibility. For example, considering workers’ high mobility, she suggested that pensions and security systems should be linked to the people rather than being linked with the country of work.

Mr Lawrence Jeff Johnson, Deputy Director, Research Department, International Labour Organization (ILO), stressed more the workers’ perspective during the job market reconfiguration. He considered that currently five billion people are economically active but about 1.5 billion are considered to be ‘vulnerable workers’ and will eventually be struck hard by automation processes. Moreover, when talking about such a phenomenon, he remarked that there is always uncertainty in referring to the exact time in which such a backlash and market configuration will happen.

2. What would happen if robots took 60% of the jobs?

Ms Shea Gopaul, Executive Director, Global Apprenticeships Network, considered that there will be ‘new colours jobs’: as part of the job market adjustment, new skills will emerge and be required and consequently new positions will be created or readjusted.

Kromjong maintained that job markets have always been under constant readjustment vis-à-vis technology changes, but in the case of automation also management positions will need to be monitored closely.

Johnson focused on the governance aspect, arguing that automation forces us to think how to ensure that such rapid change will not completely disrupt the job market. As in the past, also now there are some professions that are forced to confront decline (e.g. attorneys) and some others a change in nature (e.g. from secretary to assistant).

3. What would happen if all courses moved online?

Dr Baldwin drew attention to the process of active learning: education is not merely a matter of assimilating concepts, but the social component is key. He recognised that online learning would impact negatively on middle-level universities; however, high level academic institutions will still gain from it as the focus is on networking and formation of intellectual groups.

Kromjong agreed with Dr Baldwin’s argument: e-learning is an important driver in education, but it will never replace human interaction. Moreover, if all courses moved online, the digital divide would seriously hinder the goal of universal education accessible for all.

The session ended with consensus among the speakers on the fact that in spite of e-learning’s significant advantages, the importance of human interaction and team skills cannot be replaced and/or taught online.

Made by Women (MbW) is a Syrian-based social enterprise that is responsible for an improvement in the livelihoods of 100 women. This was achieved through international sales of the products made by these artisans. These sales, in turn, were made possible through knowledge of digital commerce tools. In this launch, sponsored by the International Trade Center (ITC) and the Permanent Mission of Japan, MbW showcased their products and discussed their experience.

Ms Dorothy Tembo, Deputy Executive Director, ITC, spoke first. She stated that the event brought together four different goals:

advancing women’s economic empowerment;

addressing the issue of refugees;

focusing on the power of technology; and

assisting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in developing economies.

Behind them all is the notion, espoused by the ITC, that trade is a force for good, which can be used to help MSMEs contribute to their countries’ growth. In certain countries, such work requires strategic partners, such as MbW. Technology facilitates the search for such partners. In addition to promoting the economic empowerment of its associates, MbW’s focus on native crafts is key to uniting 100 collaborators originating from diverse backgrounds. Tembo finished by recommending that the international community consider peaceful trade as part of the solution to the issues of disempowered women and migrants.

Next, Mr Kansuke Nagaoka, Minister, Permanent Mission of Japan, remarked that collaborating on this project was not only his responsibility, but his pleasure. He stated that, when assisting in capacity-building programmes, the Japanese government strives to accommodate the specific needs of its partners. To exemplify this notion, Nagaoka cited his country’s recent announcement to provide Syrian students with educational opportunities. To him, that same perspective is present in Japan’s decision to sponsor MbW.

Ms Rania Kinge, Social entrepreneur, told the story of MbW, explaining how it was ‘conceived and made’ in a ‘complete warzone’. In 2012, while visiting shelters for displaced women in Damascus, Kinge wondered how she could help them look beyond their situation and ‘educate their children in a more stable environment’. She decided to teach them how to make a product. Four criteria informed her choice of the ‘I love Syria’ bracelets:

the product had to be made within one day;

it had to generate income in that same day;

production had to be independent of electricity; and

it had to be sold in bulk.

Starting with a team of six, MbW sold 50,000 bracelets in their first year. Nevertheless, if it is already difficult for social enterprises to break even, the odds increase tenfold for such businesses in warzones. Thus, in 2015, when she could not bear it anymore, Kinge typed ‘ethical fashion’ on her browser’s search bar. This ordinary use of technology led her to the ITC, a like-minded organisation that also believes in empowerment through trade. Although they could not immediately finance MbW, ITC staff personally contributed to bring part of the MbW team to Geneva, to showcase its products. The proceeds of this visit enabled MbW to sustain 20 workers for two years. Later, with the assistance of Japan, this number doubled, and then quintupled. Now, 100 women who had no prior skills earn twice the salary of a Damascus graduate professor. Kinge believes that this model should be replicated around the world. Indeed, following MbW’s appearance in the media, she received requests to share their expertise with groups not only in other cities in Syria, but also in Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, and Turkey.

To conclude MbW’s presentation, Kinge invited Mr Esmaeel Eid, Production manager, MbW, to share his experience of the project. Replying to her questions, Eid described the dangers of their activity and what motivates him to risk his life for it. In his view, providing a better future for 100 women is enough incentive to persevere in the face of bombardments or road checkpoints. When asked about the organisation’s expectations, he listed the increase in the number of associates as a priority, second only to the need to find an easier way of obtaining their raw materials.

In the ensuing Q&A, Kinge fielded questions pertaining to the instrumental role of the ITC in aiding MbW, the difficulty of working in a country under sanctions, and how the humanitarian community can assist MbW.

The event was opened by Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of UNCTAD. He explained that the report is meant to provide a response to the demand by developing countries for assistance in coping with the challenges and opportunities that have arisen owing to the rapid transformations brought about by digital technologies. In addition, by providing data and statistics, it hopes to encourage policy-makers to engage in evidence-based discussions on this topic, and to adopt legal frameworks adapted to changes in digitalisation. Ms Shamika N Sirimanne, Director of the Division on Technology and Logistics (DTL) of UNCTAD, added that the point of the report was to provide a body of hard evidence on digitalisation, trade and development, and to enrich the discussions of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-Commerce and the Digital Economy.

Mr Torbjörn Fredriksson, Chief of Information and Communication Technology Analysis of DTL, UNCTAD, provided a chapter-by-chapter overview of the report. He emphasised that we are only in the ‘early days’ of the new digital economy, which will generate significant transformations due to technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, and 3D printing. These transformations can bring opportunities, as well as risks and challenges. The ultimate impact depends on the ability of enterprises and people to take advantage of digitalisation, as well as on countries’ readiness for e-commerce, which can only be achieved by taking a holistic approach to policy-making.

The report furthermore attempts to measure the digital economy, even though good statistics are often lacking, especially for developing countries. The measurements point at the fast growth of the digital economy, especially on the part of developing countries, yet there are still major digital divides that need to be factored in. In addition, the report looks at the way in which digitalisation can make trade more inclusive, and its consequences for global value chains.

Changes in the labour market are also analysed, including the phenomenon of online work. While this is making work more flexible and potentially more inclusive, it also raises concerns related to the lack of social protection and low wages. In general, digitalisation can affect jobs in four ways:

It leads to the creation of new jobs

It leads to the disappearance of some traditional jobs, due to automation

It will affect the conditions of work

More work will involve digital skills

To tackle trade, development, and digitalisation issues, the dialogue between trade and Internet governance communities needs to be strengthened, and coordination needs to be improved across ministries, stakeholders, and different levels of government.

H.E. Mr Julian Braithwaite, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, commented on the report by raising two key points:

The rate of transformation of the Internet affects all aspects of the global economy, and the transformation in developing countries is extraordinary.

Digitalisation needs a comprehensive policy response, a combination of trade policy and Internet governance, at both the international and national level.

He also stressed that the digital economy can only thrive with a free and open Internet, and that confidence in digital technologies is needed in the modern economic marketplace. He encouraged institutions in Geneva to remove barriers by working together: ‘If the international system doesn’t catch up, this will be harmful for economies and stifle opportunities’.

Dr Omobola Johnson, Senior Partner at TLcomCapital and former Nigerian Minister for ICT, emphasised that the digital divide is still widening due to a lack of affordable Internet and of awareness of the potential of digital technology. Based on current trends, we will only be able to achieve universal access to the Internet by 2042. Yet, with a committed multistakeholder and multidimensional perspective, progress can be accelerated. Therefore, collaboration is needed across ministries, departments, and agencies.

Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg first congratulated the Estonian government for organising EuroDIG and expressed support for the forthcoming Estonian presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU).

Prime Minister Solberg then presented the opportunities and challenges that the Internet represents for Norway and the world, stating that it had become ‘the most important infrastructure in the world today’. The Internet offers immense opportunities, including in the way people across the world can access education. Some challenges remain, however, in particular in terms of global security and economic stability.

In light of these challenges, how and by whom the Internet is governed is therefore of major importance. It is in the long-term interest of all to have a robust, open, and free Internet. But to do so requires the active engagement of citizens, businesses, and governments. In this context, the Norwegian government attaches great importance to avoiding unnecessary regulation and rules that would be cumbersome for digital activities, while ensuring the safety of citizens against growing cyber-threats.

Prime Minister Solberg then dealt with the role of Internet governance in dealing with current challenges, pointing out that there is no one single global institution governing the Internet. She insisted that the right balance has to be found between what we can do and what we should do. Cyberspace is largely a domain without regulation and it is in the public interest to establish general principles to ensure its sustainability. At international level, Norway actively promotes such principles which consist of supporting the multistakeholder approach, maintaining an Internet with as few regulations as possible, and engaging directly with the business community.

Prime Minister Solberg presented Norway’s efforts to cooperate with other countries to further the digitalisation of both Norwegian and European societies. Digitalisation calls for cooperation at a broader level, given that isolated policy choices could lead to more inequality, less development, and new monopolies. Norway has a progressive agenda aimed at shaping inclusive societies and avoiding the widening of the digital divide. This is why at the political level, Norway has teamed up with Nordic and Baltic countries on these issues. Norway is currently chairing the Nordic-Baltic cooperation and has given to digitalisation a high level of priority. In April 2017, in Oslo, Norway hosted a Nordic-Baltic ministerial conference on digitalisation, during which ministers agreed on a number of common objectives for the coming years. These objectives include supporting digital transformations, establishing a common arena for digital services in the public sector, developing a unique identifying system across borders, and promoting the re-use and free movement of data to support advanced public services.

Digital cooperation between Norway and Estonia also includes projects for the development of 5G networks and the promotion of competitiveness in the digital sector. The strong Estonian-Norwegian cooperation can also be illustrated by the perfect overlap that exists between Norway’s priorities in its chairmanship of the Nordic-Baltic cooperation and Estonia’s priorities as part of its forthcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Nonetheless, the Nordic-Baltic cooperation is not to be meant exclusive. On the contrary, it aims at building a more connected digital Europe. Indeed, Norway is an active participant in the development of the digital single market and intends to learn from other countries’ experiences. Estonia being one of the most advanced e-society in the world, Prime Minister Solberg finally announced she had become from this day an e-resident of Estonia in order to further learn from Estonia’s innovative projects.

Mr William J Drake, International Fellow & Lecturer, Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ University of Zurich, introduced the session by explaining that the discussions will revolve around the pros and cons of digital policy issues in trade negotiations from a European standpoint, while trying to answer questions such as: Which digital policy issues should be dealt with under an international trade framework and which should not? Are negotiations on international trade agreements inclusive enough? What roles should European stakeholders play in such negotiations?

Mr Pearse O'Donohue, Acting Director for Future Networks DG CONNECT, European Commission, focused on the issue of the free flow of data. He started by saying that in the EU, there have been restrictions on data flows, but without meaningful discussions on why such restrictions are in place. There are also legal uncertainties at both the national and EU levels when it comes to cross-border data flows. The EU needs to address such issues internally first, and then move on to discussing the principles of data flows beyond EU borders. O'Donohue pointed out that, while there is a clear need to ensure data protection and data security, localisation and restrictions on data flows are not necessarily the answer. It is important for economic and social development worldwide that data can circulate freely across borders.

Ms Marilia Maciel, Digital Policy Senior Researcher, DiploFoundation, spoke about the importance of data flows in discussions on international trade agreements, but underlined that there are also other digital policy issues being increasingly raised in such discussions, such as intermediary liability, cryptography, and spam. She said that there is increasing pressure for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to make progress on e-commerce related issues, and that the topic will be addressed at the WTO Ministerial Conference, to be held in December 2017. WTO member states have elaborated non-papers tackling digital issues that could be included in future trade negotiations: taxation (whether the moratorium on the non-taxation of electronic transmissions should be made permanent), data flows, trade facilitation (paperless trade harmonisation), technology transfers, privacy, consumer protection, etc.

Mr Robert Kroplewski, Minister of Digital Affairs for Information Society, Poland, said that when it comes to digital trade and e-commerce, EU stakeholders should look not only at the digital single market within the EU, but also at the global economy. He noted that data is key to innovation, and, in order to explore this potential, states should create an environment of mutual trust when it comes to data flows.

Mr Konstantinos Komaitis, Director Policy Development, Internet Society, started by asking whether the Internet governance (IG) community is ready to contribute to the international discussions on trade. He said that IG issues such as intellectual property rights, data protection, and security come up more and more in trade agreements, and that the IG community needs to make sure it becomes part of the trade discussions. At a minimum, this would mean demanding transparency from international negotiation processeses, and finding a way to provide input into the discussions before decisions are made. Komaitis also pointed to the complexities of the on-going debate on the challenges of globalisation, and the emergence of protectionist policies, which bring challenges for the Internet and the digital ecosystem, as, by definition, the Internet is supportive of globalisation.

Ms Erika Mann, Senior European Policy Advisor, Covington & Burling LLP, addressed the question of whether the IG multistakeholder model can be infused into the trade environment. In her view, the model is flexible enough to deal with a complex environment such as international trade, and its applicability can and should be tested on specific trade-related issues, such as data flows. IG stakeholders should become partners in international trade discussions, but not try to cover or capture all topics.

Mr Wolfgang Kleinwachter, Professor Emeritus, University of Aarhus, pointed out that, although digital policy issues are interconnected and decisions taken in one field affect another (security issues for example, also affect human rights and trade), they are still addressed and negotiated in silos. Better communication needs to be created among the various communities to allow issues to be more transversally addressed. Kleinwachter also mentioned that the multilateral treaty system will never disappear, but it is embedded in an environment where all stakeholders have a say.

Discussions on the multistakeholder model continued during the interactive part of the session. It was said that multistakeholderism is seen as a helpful instrument to address certain issues, but the model is still in its early days. As there are not many concrete outcomes of the process, it remains to be seen how it will develop in the future. The one size fits all approach does not work, and each issue needs special, tailored solutions built around it. When it comes to trade agreements, governments probably still need a place to ‘sit alone’, but they also need to make sure that they consult other stakeholders and understand their views before entering the decision-making phase.

The objective of the session was to understand the scope and nature of the challenges posed by the digital revolution on employment, and to explore the role of the different stakeholder and models to address the issues.

The session was initiated by the moderator, Ms Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), who shared an overview of the impact of technology on the world of work, and the current polarisation of jobs.

Mr Peter Eriksson, Swedish Minister for Housing and Digital Development, commented that while new technology and digitisation will lead to the loss of certain jobs, it will simultaneously create new jobs. Analysing the speed of change and changing the way we look at social security is important. Eriksson believes that basic income is not the right approach to addressing these issues, as it may exclude more people.

Mr Marco Pancini, Director of EU Public Policy, Google, emphasised the need to look at the benefits of the digital revolution and stressed the importance of knowledge and skills. He also shared Google’s initiative to equip small and medium business owners with digital skills.

Ms Karoli Hindriks, Jobbatical Small and Medium Enterprise, Estonia, spoke about the role that technologies play in providing mobility and opportunities for people to live and work anywhere.

Ms Ville-Veikko Pulkka, Doctoral researcher, Helsinki University, noted the need to assess the issue of unemployment due to technology, in both the short term and the medium term, as well as the necessity to provide more job opportunities for the unemployed.

Ms Annette Mühlberg, Head of e-government, ver.di, highlighted the challenges for workers today, including a greater workload, surveillance at the workplace, challenges of jurisdiction, new job models, and the loss of democratic procedures for freelancers (especially online).

Regarding which jobs will be in demand in the future, Hindriks commented on the difficulty of making such a prediction, especially since education is changing. It is important for people to adapt to new jobs. Eriksson pointed out the gap between skills and the types of jobs available, citing the example of Sweden, which has 60 000 job vacancies. Educating people for the available jobs is critical.

At the end of the session, Rahim posed the panellists several questions:

What is most important for skilling and making people employable? Pancini responded saying that it is important to ensure that those who are not online get the same opportunities offline, so that both can evolve. The individual rights of workers, both employed and self-employed, need to be respected and protected. Hindriks suggested that human mobility can help bridge the job gap, while Eriksson suggested a better social system to meet job needs, and that the adaptation of education and social security laws in work systems are important.

What needs to be adapted when it comes to social protection systems? Pulkka replied that there is a need to combine different labour markets and adopt either basic income or some other solution. Mühlberg shared the need to adopt a different approach based on the type of employment, clarity of the laws to be implemented, and their jurisdiction and online platforms contributing to social security funding.

Regarding how new social security systems need to be funded, Eriksson elaborated that job creation will increase the tax base, resulting in a better social system, and that along with that, a system needs to be developed to ensure that companies pay their taxes. Pancini added that there is a need to enlarge the basis of contribution. Mühlberg suggested that when organisations make a profit by rationalisation and use of technology, then a certain amount can be contributed to education for example.

There were comments from the audience on the need for further research on the basic income model and its applicability in different states, including how technology can address this, as well as on the importance of developing new skills.

Rahim wrapped-up the session by pointing out that the discussion did not touch on the ageing population and the effect of climate change and migration.

Opening the session, co-moderators Mr Dirk Krischenowski, dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG, and Ms Maarja Kirtsi, Estonian Internet Foundation/.ee, explained that the discussion will focus on issues related to innovation and competition on the domain name market, especially in the context of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), launched by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 2014.

To kick-start the debates, Krischenowski gave an overview of a study conducted by ICANN on competition, consumer trust, and consumer choice in the domain name market. Some of the main findings of the study: new gTLDs contributed to the growth of the market; the sales channel integrated the new gTLDs quickly and lead to much greater consumer choice; many new registrar operators entered the market, especially in former under-developed markets; the number of registry operators increased by a factor of 60; typical TLDs are niche, targeted, and geographic TLDs. Overall, the New gTLD Program has lead to a dramatic increase in consumer choice, a modest increase in competition, and minimal impact on consumer trust.

Ms Elena Plexida, European Commission (EC), talked about the evaluation and revision process that the EC has launched with regard to the regulations for the .eu TLD. She explained that the .eu TLD was formally established by Regulation 733/2002, while EC Regulation 874/2004 set the rules for the registry and the .eu. The .eu TLD was delegated by ICANN in 2005. As the market has continuously changed, these regulations have become outdated, have generated administrative challenges and need a revision. Issues to be analysed during the evaluation process include: whether the .eu objectives have been achieved (to boost e-commerce and empower end-users to create a European digital identity), the legal separation between registry and registrars, whether the registry should be more active in other Internet governance areas (and how).

Mr Jörg Schweiger, DENIC e.G./.de outlined one issue of concern for the domain name industry: How to make sure that domains do not subsurface, in the sense that they exist from a technical point of view, but users are not really aware of them? The industry has been constantly looking for the ‘killer application’ to address this issue. He pointed out that one way to make domain names more attractive could be to build on the discussions about self-determination, sovereignty, and identity. The main objective of .de now is to retain as many domain names as possible, and that the direction the registry is growing in is not necessarily related to innovation per se, but rather to having a secure domain name space.

Ms Lianna Galstyan, Internet Society Armenia, said that the .am registry never had an objective to have a high number of domain name registrations, but rather, to give the community the possibility to register domain names under .am. The same rationale was also behind the launch of the Armenian Internationalised Domain Name (IDN).

Mr Ardi Jürgens, Zone Media OÜ, pointed out that domain names do not exist in a bubble; they are part of a system which includes resources and applications. A healthy growth in the demand for domain names could result in applications and people using domain names for creating value, either for them or society. In the search for a ‘killer application’, the industry should look at young people and try to find a way to create value for them within the domain name space. Compared to social media platforms, domain names have the main advantage of being under the control of the registrant, and this is something that the industry should try to communicate better.

Mr Andrea Beccalli, ICANN, discussed examples of innovation in the DNS, such as the new gTLDs, the introduction of IDN TLDs, and the DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC). Even the community work on developing the rules and processes for the New gTLD Program can be seen as a form of innovation. Schweiger, however, argued that the new round of gTLDs does not necessarily means innovation, as it was simply presenting what was on the market already – TLDs. Moreover, most business models surrounding new gTLDs are similar to what had been on the market before their introduction, with only a few exceptions.

Security in the domain name space was mentioned during the discussions as an area that deserves more attention. There are troubling correlations between new gTLDs and ‘innovation in crime’, and there are service providers who have blocked all new gTLDs from their servers due to security concerns. Innovation on the security front should be a priority for new gTLDs. Privacy is also an issue that requires increased attention, as users are more and more demanding in this regard.

The risk of cybersquatting was also raised as an issue of concern for new gTLDs, with regard to the protection of trademarks. It was said that the current protection mechanisms (such as the sunrise period allowing trademark holders to register relevant domain names, and mechanisms for rights enforcement post domain name registration) are helpful, but not sufficient. Such issues are currently analysed within the ICANN framework.

At the end of the session, a point was raised – that it is not actually clear what is innovative in the domain name space, as TLDs have been in place for many years and they are basically the same ‘technology’ or ‘tool’ that they have been since the creation of the DNS.

The session was based around the question of how the growing e-commerce trade interacts with the current framework of the rules within, as well as outside the WTO, specifically for MSMEs in developing countries. The goal of the panel was to improve the understanding of how developing countries can use e-commerce trade rules to their advantage to continue to develop.

The benefits of cross border e-commerce were brought up several times, as this kind of platform has given MSMEs the opportunity to expand their businesses by allowing them to reach customers in markets all over the world that they have never had access to before. Mr Winichai Chamchaeng, Vice-Minister of Commerce, Thailand, said that e-commerce has helped increase customer confidence and the overall customer base that MSMEs in Thailand have been able to reach. He also said that the development of trade rules in relation to e-commerce will benefit all stakeholders and MSMEs in the region.

Ms Chan Kah Mei, Deputy Director of the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry, also spoke about how e-commerce has been helping companies in Singapore expand globally. She then spoke about some of the different types of MSMEs that e-commerce has impacted within the region. From traditional businesses using online stores to reach non-traditional markets, to logistics based businesses that now have access to data in new markets globally, as well as the increase in C2C (consumer to consumer) companies that use an e-market platform.

The challenges in e-commerce for MSMEs in developing countries were also discussed. These challenges include: lack of infrastructure and access to the Internet; the difficulty in regulation – due to the many different types of companies; confusion in new business areas that makes it difficult to identify what type of company rules they need to follow; growing restrictions on data due to privacy concerns, taxes, and cross boarder e-payments. As e-commerce has been evolving rather quickly, it is important that the rules stay relevant to the evolving businesses. Mr Carlos Grau Tanner, Director General of Global Express Alliance, talked about the taxation issue in depth. This is a barrier very frequently faced, and is a reason that the cost of the collection of taxes, often loses money for these companies.

Mr Victor do Prado, Director of the Council and TNC Division at the WTO, spoke about how people do not realise the relevance of the current WTO rules to e-commerce. He said that it should make no difference whether someone buys goods in a physical shop or online, it is still considered goods trading and therefor does not exempt the buyer and seller from the WTO rules. It is because there are no technological distinctions in the rules that people tend to believe that the rules do not apply to e-commerce, and none of the rules reaffirm that e-commerce is covered.

In this session, the experiences of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in developed countries in adopting e-commerce technology was compared to those in developing countries. The panel addressed how e-commerce has changed trade for small firms, the difficulties these firms have faced, and ways in which stakeholders can co-operate to promote further e-commerce adoption in developing countries.

H.E. Mr Julian Braithwaite, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the UK Mission to the UN and Other International Organisations in Geneva, began the discussion by reaffirming the UK’s interest in e-commerce as a driver of growth in its own economy, and emphasised the need for inclusiveness to close the digital divide between developing and developed countries. He then addressed the fact that the digital agenda is fragmented between many international organisations, and argued that intelligent future regulation must break down these silos.

Ms Angela Steen, from the peer-to-peer e-commerce company Etsy, gave the perspective of micro-enterprises using e-commerce platforms. She outlined four main challenges faced by Etsy’s sellers, most of whom are young women selling their products globally: trade laws have not kept up with the growth of e-commerce and have put unnecessary burdens on micro-companies, sellers face short-term income volatility and struggle to find ways to educate themselves about upscaling their businesses, and governments tend to ignore the needs of these businesses in their policies.

Ms Berna Ozsar, Secretary General of the World SME Forum, highlighted the fact that e-commerce has been both a blessing and a curse for developing countries. While e-commerce has allowed SMES in developed countries to access sources of finance and previously untapped markets, SMEs in developing countries have fallen behind. These developing country SMEs face three main issues: lack of awareness about e-commerce, lack of access, and lack of knowledge (regarding language barriers and confusing custom laws).

Ms Hannie Melin Olbe, Director of Global Public Policy at eBay, added to the topic of 'lack of access' by addressing the massive amounts of micro-enterprises unconnected to the global markets. She discussed the tremendous role of online commerce in lowering costs of distance to create a 'global empowerment network' that provides opportunities for these previously unconnected enterprises to reach new markets.

Ms Colette van der Ven, Associate of Sidley-Austin LLP, discussed the legal hurtles that her clients must face to conduct e-commerce. SMEs must overcome both traditional and new legal obstacles, thereby increasing costs and hurting innovation. One solution to this problem is an 'E-comm Co-op', which aggregates hundreds of merchants and provides benefits and resources that they would not otherwise receive.

Ms Victoria Saue, Head of Legal and Compliance of Estonia’s e-Residency, discussed her country’s innovative approach to help SMEs by allowing anyone around the world to apply for e-residency in Estonia. This gives SMEs three main benefits: providing access to economic opportunities in the EU, increasing financial inclusion – such as the ability to receive loans, and creating trust in these SMEs through a valid Estonian ID.

Ms Famke Schapp, Director of Customs and Global Trade at Deloitte, discussed the major compliance challenges that Deloitte’s clients must face when conducting e-commerce. These challenges included the confusion behind deciding whether they provide goods or services, lack of clarity and harmony in taxes and standards, and burdensome regulatory costs that vary by country.

Ms Susan F Stone, Director of the Trade, Investment and Innovation Division of UN Economic and Social Commission or Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), finished the panel discussion by advocating for UNCTAD’s eTrade for All Platform to prevent fragmentation, duplication, and redundancy of trade standards for e-commerce. Stone also discussed successful examples of knowledge sharing agreements that provide frameworks for governments to agree to common standards and vocabulary involving digital issues.

The discussion then moved towards input from the audience. Emphasis was placed on the experiences and challenges of an entrepreneur from Syria who aggregates and sells online the arts and crafts of women displaced by the Syrian Civil War. Her main challenge was the difficulty of receiving payments due to sanctions on Syria and her government’s policies, which greatly limits her e-commerce potential. Further questions and answers from the audience re-emphasised the need to limit the regulatory and tax burden of SMEs, create standardised trade agreements, and encourage SMEs to adopt e-commerce measures through success stories and relevant data.

The session focused on how digital transformation is changing the standard business model and how it will affect the types of jobs available on the market, and the skills young people need to acquire in order to enter the labour force. The key elements discussed included: future trends of the labour market in the digital economy, and how the support of young entrepreneurs is a crucial step in driving innovation and job creation all over the world.

Mr James Zhan, Director of Investment and Enterprise at UNCTAD, spoke on the pressing issue of global youth unemployment, which has now reached 13.1%, and the work that UNCTAD and the Commonwealth have been doing in order to develop a Policy Guide on Youth Entrepreneurship. The Policy Guide aims to support policymakers in developing countries and transition economies to design policies and programmes for the youth, establish institutions to promote youth entrepreneurship, and offer training in support of young people creating jobs for themselves rather than waiting for the government to solve the problem.

Mr Pere Molins, Impact Enterprises, spoke about the work they are doing to support young entrepreneurs in Zambia by facilitating programmes which connect young people to job opportunities around the world. With a youth unemployment rate in Zambia of 59%, Impact Enterprises aims to 'pioneer socially conscious outsourcing in Africa'; with just an Internet connection, one can work for any company in the world. Automation threatens about 85% of jobs in developing countries, which emphasises the need for youth to possess concrete technical skills in addition to softer skills such as communication. Molins also expressed his belief that there is a lack of collaboration globally, and that a multistakeholder dialogue could help to drive innovation.

The CEO of a technology company in South Africa, spoke briefly on the non-academic nature of technical entrepreneurship, and the millennial generation being very process/structure oriented while there is no structured training for entrepreneurship. The need for knowledge such as coding and other skills not typically taught in school is crucial, as it will help make the youth more successful. It is often the case that young entrepreneurs fail to execute their ideas due to their lack of basic knowledge on information technology, which results in them becoming exploited by the venture capital system.

The core of this session was the exclusive interactive dialogue portion with Mr Mukhisa Kituyi, UNCTAD Secretary-General, and Mr Jack Ma, Founder and Director of Alibaba and Special Adviser to UNCTAD.

As a well known, successful entrepreneur, Ma said he likes to refer to himself as 'CEO: Chief Education Officer', as he views himself first and foremost as a teacher, and he says his job is to support young entrepreneurs in business. Entrepreneurs talk about the future and they are never worried about what is to come; this is what excites him and drives his need to work with young people. When asked how we can address the main concerns of youth employment in the digital economy, he explained that e-commerce is just the beginning of what is to come. The youth will become the experts of e-commerce and because e-commerce is the future, he is extremely passionate about supporting these young entrepreneurs that will drive this change. He emphasised the idea that people under 30 embrace the Internet and because of that, it is going to be the small start up companies that will thrive in the future economy. It is important to learn from the mistakes of successful people rather than their stories of success, as this knowledge will prepare one for similar challenges in the future; this, he believes will be the driving force of progress.

Kituyi spoke about the challenges of inclusive prosperity and the need for smart partnerships between companies, the UN, governments and academics. He is confident that the Policy Guide on Youth Entrepreneurship will be successful in achieving these kinds of partnerships and will inspire others to do so as well. E-payment is a political decision, and Kenya is one example of how this kind of partnership has been successful as it currently has the most developed mobile payment system in the world. Today we need awareness from political leaders to do what is necessary to stimulate innovation. He also stressed the need to think of the youth as less of a target audience, and more of a group that can provide input. 'We can only solve global problems as a global community.'

Mr Daniel Blockert, Ambassador of Sweden to the WTO and Chair of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) Steering Committee, was the moderator of the session. The EIF is a multi-donor programme with the aim of helping Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to become more active players in the global trading system. Blockert started by recalling that the theme of eTrade readiness assessment is deeply related to the process that generated the eTrade for All initiative. The challenges for LDCs to engage in e-commerce are still significant, starting from a low level of connectivity in most of them. The launch of the eTrade for All initiative was an important first step, but it is necessary to discuss how it can be implemented. This session is an opportunity to hear views from LDCs, especially the ones that have undergone eTrade readiness assessments.

Cambodia was one of these countries. H.E. Mr Pan Sorasak, Minister of Commerce, Cambodia, underscored the important role of the EIF to the LDCs because it provides technical co-operation, keeps LDCs abreast of evolutions in the trade landscape and helps them identify the best way to advance their agendas. The eTrade readiness assessment complements assessments done by other actors, such as the private sector, and helps LDCs to prepare for global negotiations, including within the WTO. The eTrade for all helps to break the silos and encourages actors such as governments and the private sector, to work together.

H.E. Mr Lekey Dorji, Minister for Economic Affairs, Bhutan, mentioned that his country was one of the first selected by UNCTAD for the eTrade readiness assessments. The assessment has provided the country with a good guide on how to adopt ICTs for development. Important frameworks were approved, such as the ICT roadmap from 2011, which fosters ICT for good government and sustainable economic development. In 2016, the ICT for development plan was launched, with the aim to foster the growth of the ICT industry. Buthan has no overarching law on e-commerce – and this was one of the weak points identified in the assessment report, but some legal frameworks are in place, such as the consumer protection law, from 2012. Having e-readiness assessments is an important first step, but the biggest challenge is to find the resources to develop e-commerce. More resources and technical knowledge are needed if the recommendations on the eTrade assessment are to be carried forward by LDCs.

H.E. Ms Anusha Rahman Ahmad Khan, Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecom, Pakistan, recalled that the future of the economy is digital, so LDCs need support to ensure that their limited resources are efficiently used to make e-commerce grow faster. ICTs are enablers of development, but this point has not been included among the 17 goals that encompass the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN Broadband Commission aims to include ‘access to ICTs’ as an 18th SDG goal.

Khan affirmed that the Universal Service Funds are an important instrument for developing countries. Many developing countries, however, do not use these resources for their intended purpose, which is to connect the unconnected. Governments should make these funds available to their ICT ministers, so they can deploy infrastructure. Pakistan has done that, and created a public-private-partnership (PPP) to administrate the funds. The Pakistani government also celebrated a PPP with Microsoft to develop a project that teaches girls technology skills, such as coding and cloud computing. When it comes to regulatory issues, it is important that governments perform their role in protecting their people. Sometimes it is difficult for governments to approve laws, such as cybercrime and privacy laws, because they impact the business models of the private sector, which are based on the use of data. Governments need to support each other in order to be able to develop the much needed regulation.

Blockert asked Khan how the distribution of resources from the Universal Service fund takes place in Pakistan. Khan explained in detail the functioning of the Universal Fund. She emphasised that every aspect, from governance issues to the actual disbursement of resources, is managed by a public private partnership (PPP).

H.E Dr Francois Xavier Ngarambe, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Rwanda, mentioned that his country is starting to put into place the frameworks for enabling e-commerce transactions. SMEs are accompanied and supported in the process of creating their online businesses. Nevertheless, in order for LDCs to really progress, e-commerce needs to be linked with the transformation of the whole economy, transfer of technology and knowledge sharing. Institutional improvement is also necessary, so they develop better and more predictable policies.

Mr Günter Nooke, Personal Representative for Africa to the German Chancellor, BMZ, Germany, made an overview of the German contribution to initiatives to foster development. It includes support to the Enhanced Integrated Framework – an important tool to make e-commerce useful for LDCs, and also to organisations such as the International Trade Centre (ITC), which focuses on the inclusion of SMEs. Nooke also commented on the work of the G20 on e-commerce. Some of the topics discussed are taxation, the development angle, and capacity building for women and girls. He summarised the developments of the last G20 summit. Nooke recalled that digital trade needs not only ICT infrastructure, but also physical infrastructure and logistics. The G20, in partnership with other actors, is also contributing to channel private financing into infrastructure development.

Blockert opened the floor for questions to Khan. The representative of Pakistan shared information about initiatives that Pakistan is putting in place to promote connectivity. The representative of an e-commerce website in Cameroon asked how the ICT ministry in Pakistan overcame the resistance of families to let women participate in ICT training. Khan mentioned that these girls usually come from the most disadvantaged sectors of society and that they have been encouraged by their parents to attend the training. The employability agreement with Microsoft gives them the chance to further participate in a free-lancer training, offered to the ones that excel in the program. In Khan's opinion, it is important to partner with the private sector, since they can help to develop the curriculum and train the tutors. A representative from Morocco commented on the trade-offs between strict regulation and innovation and defended the need for balanced policies that grant both economic and social opportunities. A representative from the Islamic Development Bank, mentioned that the bank is offering support for infrastructure deployment to its members.

Khan replied that it is up to policymakers to define what would be a balanced regulation. For Pakistan, providing job opportunities for young people is the most important goal, so regulation should not hinder innovation and employability.

Mr Ratnakar Adhikari, Executive Director of the Executive Secretariat for the Enhanced Integrated Framework, made some assessments of the current scenario:

SMEs will need to use technology to participate in the global value chains.

E-commerce has changed the way we conduct business. It reduces information asymetries and redundancy in the global value chain.

LDCs are far from exploring the full potential of e-commerce and the gender divide is severe.

Aid for Trade helps to realise the potential of e-commerce.

According to Adhikari, Samoa and Liberia will undergo the eTrade readiness assessment soon. Once the assessment is done, UNCTAD supports the countries with project preparation grants, helping them develop robust projects and apply to bilateral donors, to the eTrade for All, and other potential channels.

Ms Dorothy Ng'ambi Tembo, Deputy Executive Director of the ITC, affirmed that technology provides a good opportunity to scale SMEs:

Through e-commerce, SMEs can build international reputation and enhance consumer trust.

It allows to expand outreach. Less resources are needed for companies to become visible when they use online platforms.

Disintermediation in international trade. SMEs can ship directly to the end point.

Facilitate channels for SMEs to have access to multiple financial options.

In spite of that, participation of LDCs in e-commerce is still very low and there is a need to concretely support SMEs from LDCs in order to enhance participation. There is willingness from governments to work towards this goal, but most of them are still wondering how to do it. Some issues that need to be addressed include:

Non-conformity with tax requirements. The failure to conform with VAT duties can generate additional costs for consumers and sellers and increase the number of returned packages.

Availability of payment solutions. In Africa there is a considerable number of payment solutions, but restricted to the domestic market. There is a need to go beyond the domestic market.

Lack of affordable logistics.

Ng'ambi Tembo made some recommendations on priority areas:

To provide country-specific recommendations.

Make human and financial resources available.

Strengthen regulatory coherence.

Provide capacity building for SMEs.

Ms Shamika N. Sirimanne, Director of the Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD, explained UNCTAD’s main areas of activity: technical assistance, ICT policy reviews and regulatory reviews. She mentioned that the eTrade readiness assessment has been conducted in two countries for the moment and there is plenty of space to scale it to others. The assessment provides an opportunity to have a multistakeholder assessment, involving governments and the private sector.

Mr Fernand Matendo, CEO of Burundi Shop, explained the issues that, in his view, prevent LDCs from developing faster. A large part of the workforce is in the countryside, doing manual labour. His company is engaged in developing a platform that will connect the countryside to the marketplace, using mobile devices. It will facilitate payments and create a network for the delivery of products. There are more than 50 partners engaged, including the associations of transports and logistics.

Ms Shomi Kaiser, Adviser at the e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), highlighted the importance of the partnerships between the public sector and the private sector to develop the national framework that will allow a coherent e-commerce policy.

One of the paradoxes of data society is that there is not enough data about data society itself. Numbers are used without the necessary rigor. For example, estimates of damage from cybercrime range from tens to hundreds of billions. The volume of e-commerce is also estimated to have a very wide range.

The session on Global Survey of Internet User Perceptions provided a fresh breeze by presenting data from 24 225 Internet users from 24 countries on Internet Security & Trust. This global survey was conducted by the Centre for International Governance Innovation, IPSOS, Internet Society, United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD), International Development Research Center (IDRC).

The presenters summarised the main findings of the survey which led to discussion:

1. There is greater online trust in developing than developed countries

Some argued that developing countries are in an ‘early growth’ phase. Others questioned whether the amount of trust in developing countries is proportional to the lack of information and awareness of risks.

2. There is greater trust in the Internet industry (ISPs, online services) than in governments

The most trustworthy actors are Internet service providers (66%) and online banks (65%). Internet users have least trust in the responsible behaviour of foreign governments (43%).

3. The trust in their governments varies greatly

81% Indonesian survey respondents trust their government to act responsibly online. On the other side of the scope is Mexico, whose government enjoys the trust of only 25% of the survey’s respondents.

4. A lack of security is the main source of distrust

According to the survey, most Internet users do not trust the Internet because it is not secure (65%). The lack of trust is slightly lower when it comes to the reliability of the Internet (40%).

5. Cybercrime is the main concern

6. Changes in online behaviour could lead towards more trust

45% of the survey’s respondents avoid opening emails from unknown e-mail addresses. This is becoming part of the global digital hygiene. Most panellists during the discussions highlighted change in online behaviour as one of the main ways towards increasing both security and trust on the Internet. For ISOC, increasing the cybersecurity culture is one of cornerstones of the concept of collaborative security. The survey shows particularly noticeable changes in online behaviour in Latin America.

7. Economic patriotism online

Internet users prefer to buy goods and services from their own country even if they have a chance to buy them from abroad via e-commerce platforms.

8. Digital policy

The survey identifies the following issues as the main concern for Internet users: consumer protection, protection of data privacy, and protection against cybercrime. The discussion focused on two ways for strengthening digital policy space: government regulation and ‘policy by design’. For example, an Internet Society representative argued that privacy-by-design, in particular encryption, could be a solution for data protection and privacy.

Session 3 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) conference – TheFuture of WorkWe Want: A Global Dialogue – addressed the theme of how changing technology, globalisation, increased financialisation of the economy and other factors, have changed the basic employer-employee relationship. Broadly, the discussion focused on the need to reconcile the changing nature of control vs responsibility in terms of companies’ global supply chains and the regulations to which they adhere.

Prof. David Weil, Boston University, began by arguing that although the ‘future of work’ discussion had focused largely on the digital ‘gig economy’, profound changes have in fact been made to the structure of work going back decades. As multinational corporations have shifted their processes outwards through outsourcing, subcontracting, and other practices, they have created a ‘fissured workplace’. The responsibility for labour standards is no longer in their hands but spread out throughout the supply chain, when in fact they remain largely in control. In response, Prof Fabrizio Cafaggi, European University Institute, argued that there are two main ways to reconcile this control and responsibility: realign responsibility back to the lead company, or distribute responsibly to the local level and ensure suppliers are held accountable for labour standards. He concluded that a combination of these strategies should be pursued.

The discussion then shifted towards the impact of this changing work dynamic on social protection measures and enforcement of labour laws. Participants mostly agreed that on-the-ground workers were no longer receiving the economic benefits of their work, and that redistribution measures must counteract this. Prof. Florence Palpacuer, University of Montpellier, argued that before attempting to stabilise workers’ situations, the global economy must be stabilised. In attempting to protect worker’s rights, regulators could either reform local institutions at the base of the supply chain or impose Western regulatory frameworks on these intermediaries. Mr Youba Sokona, South Centre, argued for the former, saying that existing social protection systems in developing counties can be adapted to better protect workers. There was consensus amongst participants however, that ‘private enforcement’ (whereby private companies self-regulate and choose suppliers with ethical labour standards) has largely failed, and that governance is needed to fill the gap.

The conversation then shifted to two increasingly-important employment distinctions: informal work, and the self-employed. Ms Catelene Passchier, Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (Dutch Federation of Trade Unions; FNV), lamented the lack of increase in formal working arrangements over the past few decades, especially as informal work tends to provide fewer benefits and protections for workers. She blamed corporations and their 'vanishing trick' of finding creative ways to make their workforce seem unofficial. The panellist representing employers, Mr Kris de Meester, Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique, disagreed; he argued that the world will always have informal working arrangements and that this was not necessarily a bad thing.

The final conversation was sparked by a question from Minister Lee from South Korea, who asked for more collaboration between governments and the ILO to strengthen protection for the growing population of self-employed throughout the world. Sokona and Palpacuer agreed that the ILO should pivot in its thinking to understand the conditions self-employed are working under and look for ways to give them more support. However, de Meester argued that based on surveys, most self-employed people chose to work that way for autonomy and independence rather than being forced to do so, which suggests further regulation is not needed. As the workplace continues to change due to automation and dispersed business models, self-employment will become an increasingly relevant topic for policy decisions.

The fourth and final session of the of the International Labour Organization (ILO) conference – The Future of Work We Want: A Global Dialogue – discussed the regulatory framework that will be needed in the future to adapt to changing labour structures. The conversation was framed around increased calls for the ILO and other organisations to respond to the apparent erosion of regulatory frameworks throughout the world, as well as posing the question: are new regulatory structures needed in the future?

The session began with the question: will the employer-employee relationship examined by the ILO eventually cease to exist? Prof. Richard Hyman, London School of Economics, first examined the historical roots of changing labour regulations, saying that the recent reversal of the twentieth century restrictions on calling labour a ‘commodity’ have contributed to dangerous market failures throughout the global economy. To address this issue, Mr Roberto Pires, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada, argued for a combination of new and old forms of labour regulations: old methods of enforcement, such as labour inspection – are still relevant, but new techniques must be developed to complement them. Prof. Jennifer Bair, University of Virigina, agreed and took this idea further, arguing for a hybrid model of public and private governance. She argued that private governance alone, such as through corporate social responsibility projects within companies, has failed to be effective, and therefore public governance is still needed. Pires offered an example of this: semi-legal contracts agreed to by Brazilian contractors and labour unions to provide protection for the tens of thousands of part-time workers needed during carnival celebrations.

The conversation then shifted towards protecting those who fall outside the traditional employment relationship, such as those doing informal work. In an audience poll, 82% believed that governments should do more to regulate non-standard forms of employment. Mr Luc Cortebeeck, Confederation of Christian Trade Unions in Belgium, agreed, stating that rights-based governance is essential. The employer representative, Mr Roberto Suárez Santos, pushed back against this claim, arguing that the new sharing economy and cross-border commerce makes it difficult to always identify the employer to regulate. Likewise, he argued that more data about the benefits and costs of the informal economy is needed before regulations should be enacted. The other participants mostly disagreed, believing in the importance of directing the path of labour changes rather than simply reacting. Prof. (Dr) Kamala Sankaran, University of Dehli, highlighted that most of the labour in developing countries is already 'informal' to begin with, and this offers regulators an opportunity to create protection for this work from a 'clean slate'.

Finally, the conversation shifted towards the future of social dialogue in an organisation such as the ILO, through tripartite discussions (in which governments, trade unions, and employers all have a seat at the table). Panellists agreed on the importance of ensuring that all workers and enterprises, especially those outside of formal institutions, gain a voice in these negotiations. As a union representative himself, Cortebeeck argued that unions play a greater role in the dialogue, and that the scope of the dialogue can be extended by encouraging unions to reach out to members of the informal economy. Santos cautioned that this concept of social dialogue was a largely European invention, and therefore might not be inclusive to other areas of the world such as Latin America. In order to avoid exclusiveness, then, an audience poll reflected that innovative methods must be developed in incorporating new voices. As the final session of the conference, this discussion ended in a note of optimism, that collaboration between the ILO and its partners can develop meaningful reforms to ensure 'decent work' in the future.

The session was the first meeting between the ICANN Board and the Customer Standing Committee (CSC) after the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) stewardship transition.

Mr Byron Holland, member of the CSC appointed by the Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO), started by explaining the main mission of the CSC according to its Charter. He highlighted that the CSC is responsible for monitoring the Public Technical Identifiers' (PTI) performance of the IANA naming function, against the service level expectations in the IANA Naming Function Contract. He also mentioned other responsibilities of the CSC such as participating in reporting, monitoring, conducting surveys, and informing the community about issues related to the performance of the IANA functions. According to him, this role has been assumed according to plan.

Holland explained in detail how the CSC does its work through monthly meetings, which usually take place in the middle of each month. At the meeting, CSC members receive and discuss the PTI report on 63 specific metrics, and decide on the CSC report. He also specified that the meetings are open, that records and proceedings are published on their website, and that the reports are sent to an extensive distribution list. For people who want to stay informed on this issue but do not have time to read a detailed report, he recommended the monthly report, which is only about a page long and gives an update of the IANA functions performance.

Regarding the CSC reports, Holland explained that the CSC rates the overall performance of the PTI based on a number of Service Level Expectations (SLE) achieved – excellent when all the expectations are achieved; satisfactory when not all are achieved – but there is no need for concern; and, needs improvement when actions are necessary. He added that the CSC also reports on metrics that the CSC is tracking closely, on how the SLEs could be adjusted, and on the numbers of complaints.

Holland also listed the CSC activities since October 2016:

Reviewed four PTI reports and issued four monthly CSC reports.

Discussed the PTIs/IANA department's 2016 customer survey

Started a discussion about PTI related complaints and processes from the survey

Developed internal procedures

Agreed on the short-term priorities

Approved the dashboard that the PTI has put up

Launched the CSC website

To summarise, Holland said that the PTI performance has been very good with only some minor metrics missed and no consumer service impact or operational problems. He also said that the CEO of ICANN has initiated a dialogue with the CSC chair, and that the ICANN community needs to plan for reviews.

After that, the floor was opened to questions and comments from Board members and from the audience. Mr Steve Crocker, Chair of the ICANN Boad, referred to the importance of understanding whether the 63 specific metrics are relevant. Mr Göran Marby, ICANN CEO and President, briefly explained the importance of the meeting between the two external Board Members of the PTI and himself as a way of formalising the context between the organisations. Among other questions, Mr Khaled Koubaa, ICANN Board member, asked about the review of the effectiveness of the CSC (to begin by October 2018) and whether a process has been put in place by ccNSO and the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) to work on this review. Holland responded that no work has been undertaken within ccNSO in this regard, but that actions are to be expected.

The discussion on Digital Policy in South Eastern Europe, held on 21 February 2017, was organised by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Macedonia to the United Nations in Geneva and the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP).

Dr Jovan Kurbalija, Founding Director of DiploFoundation and Head of the Geneva Internet Platform, started the discussion with some introductory remarks on the link between International Geneva and southeastern European countries. He noted that many decisions taken in Geneva have an important impact on regional and national developments when it comes to digital policies.

Mr Ljupčo Jivan Gjorgjinski, acting Head of the Macedonian Mission in Geneva, underlined how digital policy issues in general and Internet governance issues in particular are at a crossroads. The direction they take from here depends on a clear articulation of needs and interests. This can be done at the global level – through many forums of discussion that take place in Geneva, including the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) – but also at the regional, sub-regional, and national levels. These issues are evermore significant, complex, and intertwined. The fact that the IGF is this year organised in Geneva – where it was to a great degree created – presents a great opportunity for small countries to present information from the national level and express their interests, along with other important stakeholders, including the technical community, the private sector, and civil society.

Mr Chengetai Masango, Programme and Technology Manager at the IGF Secretariat, underlined that the mandate of the IGF is to involve all stakeholders to discuss issues related to Internet governance. As he noted, the IGF was created on the basis of the paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society in 2005, especially to ‘discuss public policy issues related to key elements of Internet governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability, and development of the Internet’. He invited and encouraged the missions represented at this briefing to participate in the IGF First Open Consultations and MAG meeting, to be held on 1–3 March 2017 in geneva, as well as in the IGF meeting itself, in December. Masango also noted, that despite an increase in participation by Asia-Pacific and African countries, southeastern European countries are still underrepresented at the IGF.

Ms Anja Gengo, Focal Point for national and regional IGF initiatives (NRIs) at the IGF Secretariat, noted the important role played by different stakeholders in the preparation of the next IGF, to be held in December 2017 in Geneva, as they submit their ideas of what should be on the IGF’s agenda. She addressed the challenge of the Policy Options for Connecting the Next Billion, an intersessional programme within the IGF launched in 2015 with the intent of extending and increasing the impact of IGF activities, such as NRIs. She emphasised the importance of tackling regional and national issues, which are not covered by the global IGF, and may also be interesting for southeastern European countries. Gengo also mentioned that there is a significant number of very active IGF initiatives in this region, all very valuable contributors to the IGF intersessional work.

Kurbalija noted that during this important year in digital policy, southeastern European countries will need to find a way to adjust to these fast new developments. For example, the SEE region has to find ways to deal with policy questions related to data, which has important security, human rights, e-commerce, and intellectual property aspects. Data will be in the focus of digital discussions held in Geneva during 2017.

Gjorgjinski presented the programme of the South Eastern European Dialogue on Internet Governance (SEEDIG), a sub-regional IGF initiative recognised by the UN-led IGF, which will hold its third annual meeting on 24-25 May 2017 in Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia. The event will cover: new challenges of human rights online; perspectives, opportunities, and policy implications of the Internet of Things; an overview of open data policies and initiatives in southeastern European countries; the status and perspectives in internationalised domain names with the integration of non-Latin scripts; and national, regional, and international co-operation in addressing cyber-risks.

He also highlighted that a new role for parliamentarians is called for and, again, Geneva – which also hosts the International Parliamentary Union – is uniquely positioned. The courts will otherwise be increasingly pressured to fill the vacuum that currently exists for many digital issues.

The discussion ended with a Q&A. Kurbalija underlined the importance of moving forward, and creating more communication between the different stakeholders. He mentioned especially that Microsoft has called for the establishment of a Digital Geneva Convention, which underlines the strong need for public-private partnerships in dealing with digital matters. He added that, in 2017, we will witness a more intense discussion on jobs and digital developments, given in particular the fast developments in the area of robotics and artificial intelligence applications. This last point was also underlined by Gjorgjinski, who emphasised the importance of restructuring the job market to capture these new digital developments. He concluded that so far, the technical community and the private sector viewed governments with suspicion, a point of view which nowadays is shifting towards co-operation, not only with governments but also directly with national parliaments.

In terms of next steps, the following activities were outlined:

1. Monthly briefings

Permanent missions can receive monthly updates on developments in the digital field, through newsletters (global and regional), and briefings held every last Tuesday of the month (at 13.00 CET, at the GIP offices).

2. Awareness building in SEE, before and at the SEEDIG meeting in Ohrid

SEEDIG organisers can provide promotional materials which permanent missions could share with actors in their respective countries: ministries, universities, technical community, etc. Requests for materials can be sent at see@intgovforum.org.

3. Involve parliamentarians

The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Macedonia will liaise with the Parliament of Macedonia, in order to extend invitations to SEE Parliaments for participation in the SEEDIG meeting.

Permanent missions could consider other modalities for involving parliamentarians, for example during annual meetings of the International Parliamentary Union (e.g. organise sessions on SEE digital developments).

4. Organise regular briefings for SEE permanent missions in Geneva

The next briefing is envisaged before the summer break (late May/early June). The Permanent Mission of Bosnia and Herzegovina also suggested to extend the briefing to the East European Group, which Bosnia and Herzegovina currently coordinates.

5. Organise ad hoc briefings for ministers and high officials from SEE

Permanent missions from SEE countries can organise, in co-operation with the GIP, customised briefings on digital policy for ministers and high officials visiting Geneva.

This luncheon discussion, organised by the Think Tank Hub, addressed the current changes in the labour market driven by the fourth industrial revolution. The topic was presented by guest speaker Jan Smit, a Partner of the Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services, which recently published the report ‘Industry 4.0’ for the European Parliament.

Smit first addressed the phenomenon of ‘uberisation’, both as a narrow phenomenon affecting the transportation sector and as a broad trend visible in other sectors such as as journalism, tourism, finance, delivery services - with important consequences for society at large. This trend is put into motion by developments in technology, which could be presented as ‘Industry 4.0’. While the fourth industrial revolution is often either presented as an opportunity for increased productivity or in relation to IT security, Smit focused on its consequences on work and labour. He addressed the following issues:

To realise the potential of industry 4.0, a large number of people with a background in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) are needed. European countries might not be able to address the shortage of IT engineers among their own population, and will need to attract candidates from other parts of the world.

The centres that will be established around industry 4.0 will be increasingly specialised and spatially concentrated, away from the periphery, which might lead to increased inequality.

Immigration needed for an industry 4.0 workforce is challenged by current European attitudes and perceptions of immigrants.

There is a need for a new education programme to generate the range of skills (IT and others) required to take full advantage of industry 4.0.

Automation will make certain jobs redundant, which will have an important impact on social security.

Small businesses often do not have the resources to engage with industry 4.0 and are therefore challenged by services that are offered directly to the consumer.

These issues generate policy challenges for governments, as they can ultimately affect the ‘tenants of the world order’.

The Q&A session addressed a wide range of related topics, including the possibility of increased polarisation and inequality between developed and developing countries, and the question of whether these challenges are inherently new, or whether they are old challenges in a new context. Wider topics were also addressed, such as Internet governance, data protection, and the potential effects of artificial intelligence.

The 47th WEF Annual Meeting, which took place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, on 17‒20 January, brought together leaders from across business, government, international organisations, academia, and civil society, to discuss several digital policy issues.

The future of the digital economy was an overarching theme for many sessions, exploring aspects such as the digital transformation of industries, the fourth industrial revolution and its implications (in areas such as gender equality and jobs), steps for shaping national digital strategies, the need for shared norms and rules for the digital economy, and trust-based collaboration among stakeholders. Security and crime in the digital era were part of the discussions, with a focus on multistakeholder approaches for tackling cybercrime, the cyber resilience of critical infrastructures, cyberwar and forms of manifestation, and terrorism in the digital age. During the meeting, WEF launched a report on Advancing Cyber Resilience: Principles and Tools for Boards. Prepared in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group and Hewlett Packard Enterprises, the report outlines a series of principles and tools for companies to tackle cybersecurity risks and ensure the resilience of their information infrastructures.

The advancements in the field of Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) were also looked at during this year's WEF meeting, as participants explored policy implications and outlined the need for principles and standards to ensure that IoT and AI products bring benefits to society as a whole, while minimising the risks (in areas such as social inclusion, privacy, and security). Trustworthy online information, a topic that has attracted a lot of attention lately, was also discussed, with a focus on possible modalities for balancing freedom of expression with the need to educate users on how to differentiate between real and misinformation.

In addition to contributing thir views to these and many other discussion tracks, WEF participants used the meeting as an opportunity to launch new initiatives and agree on future actions. In one such example, major financial service providers (e.g. Mastercard, Visa, and Paypal), global IT and telecom companies (e.g. Ericsson and GSMA), and intergovernmental organisations (e.g. the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) agreed on six principles on public-private cooperation aimed at facilitating digital cash payments in crisis-affected populations.

As has been the case at many other high-level events recently, the Agenda for Sustainable Development also featured high in Davos. On a more general level, world leaders discussed the challenges of globalisation and the increasing anti-globalisation trends. Many of the debates revolved around the need to identify modalities for reforming the governance of globalisation processes, with a view to improving them and making them better suited to contribute to global growth and development.

This paper outlines Access's views on net neutrality, price discrimination, and zero-rating schemes, and looks at what improvements would be needed to bring them in line with the stated goal of connecting millions of people to the Internet.

This article examines areas pertaining to the use of 'illegal IT' and its impact on fair competition. While it focuses mostly on US rules and regulations and related trends when it comes to illegal IT use, it also brifly explores trends in other countries and regions. In addition, the article outlines possible strategies for coping with illegal IT use.

IGF 2016 Report

Discussions at IGF 2016 brought into focus recently agreed trade agreements. One aspect was that negotiations were criticised due to their lack of transparency and openness. At the same time, some speakers argued that although some negotiations were secretive, this does not make evil (Main session on Trade Agreements and the Internet).

Recent e-commerce trends were also discussed in the context of other areas, most notably development. The app economy, overt-the-top services (OTT) services (Internet Fragmentation: Getting Next 4 Billion Online - WS37), new industry requirements (Digital Economy and the Future of Work - WS34), and high costs of access are posing challenges for developing countries. Despite the challenges, many developments carry a strong potential for developing countries, including the Internet of Things, the creation of new (skilled) jobs, and new revenue streams. Stronger protection for human rights, improved policies for affordability and access, and better access to scientific knowledge (The Internet and ESCRs: Working From Experience to Policy - WS90), are some of the developments that can help countries reap the benefits of the Internet economy.

WSIS Forum 2016 Report

Several sessions at the WSIS Forum underlined the fact that ICTs are an effective tool for raising productivity, improving access to consumers and suppliers, and connecting least developed countries (LDCs) to the global value chain. How the Internet Enables Sustainable Development: Incorporating Data-Driven Policies to Measure Impact (session 149) referred to the mobile revolution, the importance of accountability at governmental level, and the need to foster private-public partnerships at national and international levels. ICT4SDG: Digital Economy for Development (session 179) shared best practices for economic development and inclusion, and highlighted the potential opportunities for engagement mainly through advertising and marketing, education, and entertainment. In a session dedicated to the postal network - Putting Public Assets to Work (session 159 ) - panellists discussed the role that the postal network can play in linking the physical world with the digital world, and in addressing issues such as financial inclusion.

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